Shop girls

Casualties
of war
Community
Supported
Agriculture
What we really need to remember
on Memorial Day.
³Independent Thinking, page 4
Charlemont farm is part of a new
trend that connects citizens to farms
³Hilltown Life, page 9
The secret of joy in work is contained
in one word — excellence. To
know how to do something well
is to enjoy it. —PEARL S. BUCK
www.sfindependent.net
Vol. III No. 22 • Issue No. 72
Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts
May 24-June 6, 2007
$1.00
Dairy farms
get relief
Amber Coburn in the HVAC shop at Franklin County Technical School. Coburn is one of a number of female students learning
trades that have traditionally been the domain of males.
Shop girls
West County women
turn on the heat, fire up
the metal, detail the car
and build the house at
Franklin County Tech
By Virginia Ray
ginny@sfindependent.net
—————
Every school day about onethird of the female students
at Franklin County Technical
School spend time in a shop —
but their shops aren’t the retail
kind.
Instead, these plucky West
County shop girls go to the
auto body repair shop, the
carpentry shop, the welding
shop and the heating/venting/
air-conditioning shop, learning
professions requiring skills that
most women would love to know
but few do.
They’re also working sideby-side with their fellow students — teenaged guys who
sometimes find the girl-power
in their midst just a little bit
Special to the Independent
intimidating.
Why did these young women
choose such non-traditional
courses of study when they
could have gone a more traditional route, studying cosmetology, culinary arts, health and
early childhood education, office technology or landscaping
and horticulture?
The Independent talked shop
with junior Shayla Howe, a
welding student; junior Amber
Coburn of Colrain, who is studying HVAC (heating, venting,
air-conditioning); sophomore
Cathy Williams, an auto body
repair student from Buckland;
ninth-grader Billie Beausoleil,
also an auto body repair student
from Colrain; junior Desiree
Decker of Heath, who is studycontinued on page 7 Shayla Howe and Desiree Decker
—————
BUCKLAND—After 60 long
years and the ravages of the
concentration camps during
World War II, one Massachusetts
family found a long-lost relative
they never knew they had.
Buckland Selectman Stefan
Racz’s family received a gift
better than gold when a relative
contacted the Holocaust and War
Victims Tracing and Information
Center of the American Red
Cross in Baltimore, Maryland.
That organization then contacted
the North Central Massachusetts
Chapter in Leominster to make a
search, and contact was made.
Vasilissa Gurbanowa, a resident of Estonia, had been searching for Racz and his father,
Edward. Gurbanowa, a Holocaust survivor, was looking for
her sister, Akulina Racz, Stefan
Racz’s mother, who died in 1999.
Mrs. Racz and Mrs. Gurbanowa
were separated in concentration
camps during World War II and
never saw each other again.
Estonia is an independent
country bordering the Baltic Sea,
and is north of Latvia. The coun-
Task Force to study and recommend long-term solutions to
sustain the dairy industry in
Massachusetts.
The Task Force shall consist
of 11 members, including two
members to be appointed by the
Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs; two members
to be appointed by the Commissioner of Agricultural Resources;
one member to be appointed
by the Commissioner of Energy
Resources; one member to be
appointed by the Commissioner
of Public Health; one member
to be appointed by the Senate
President; one member to be
appointed by the Speaker of the
House of Representatives; one
farming representative to be
continued on page 2
Davenport
fire fund info
SHELBURNE— Those
wishing to assist Russell
and Martha Davenport, who
lost their Tower Road home
to fire on May 9, may send
a donation in care of First
Congregational Church,
22 Church Common Road,
Shelburne, MA 01370.
For more information,
contact Rev. Phyllis Evelyn
at 625-0028.
June a suspenseful month
for Mohawk budget
Torn apart during Holocaust,
a family reconnects 60 years later
By Diane C. Beaudoin
BOSTON—News that the Governor has filed a supplemental
budget for this fiscal year that includes $3.6 million in emergency
grant money for dairy farmers is
welcome here as in other rural
areas.
In 2006, dairy prices for farmers fell by $0.19 to $1.14 per
gallon, which equals prices that
were paid to farmers in 1981.
For the typical 100-cow family
farm in Massachusetts producing
233,000 gallons of milk per year,
this price decline equates to a
loss of income of $44,270. On top
of the decreased prices, production costs have risen sharply and
are now at $1.70 per gallon.
The price that dairy farmers
receive is determined by the
federal government and based
on national supply and demand
conditions to price milk throughout the country, including Massachusetts and New England.
In recent years, huge dairy operations with more than 1,000
cows each in New Mexico, Texas,
Idaho and California have driven
up supply, while significantly
decreasing prices. The price
paid by the consumer, however,
is unregulated, ensuring that
retailers will continue to collect
a profit on the sale of milk.
In addition to providing $3.6
million in funding, the Governor’s supplemental budget also
includes language establishing
a Dairy Farm Revitalization
try was forcibly incorporated into
the USSR in 1940 but regained
its freedom in 1991 with the
collapse of the Soviet Union. Its
capital city is Tallinn.
Now, Stefan Racz and his family are in frequent contact with
Gurbanova via e-mail.
“My aunt was searching for
eight years, with the last four
years looking in the archives in
Germany,” he said, adding that
someone suggested that she try
through the Red Cross.
Racz’s mother said that the
Germans took her when she was
continued on page 3
Monthly funding a possibility
By Don Stewart
don@sfindependent.net
—————
SFI photos/Jeff Potter
BUCKLAND—Voters at Plainfield’s June 9 annual town meeting residents will decide whether
they will accept their assessment
of the $17.6 million Mohawk
Trail Regional School District
(MTRSD) operating budget for
the coming school year. Eleven
days later at the ballot box Buckland residents will consider a
$109,843 override to the Proposition 2½ tax cap to fully fund that
town’s assessment.
Hawley, Charlemont and Colrain have already voted down
budget assessments. Due to the
district agreement, if either
Buckland or Plainfield vetoes
SHELBURNE FALLS INDEPENDENT
8 Deerfield Ave., Shelburne Falls, MA 01370
www.sfindependent.net
the financial request, the budget,
reflecting a 4.5 percent increase
in expenditures from the current
school year, fails. By law, school
officials are required to then
revisit district towns a second
time with a budget, whether it’s
modified or not.
If that attempt fails, District
towns would be assessed monthly
based upon assessments in the
current operating budget.
During this period, state Department of Education (DOE)
officials would appraise communication among school officials
and District towns. MTRSD Superintendent Michael Buoniconti
said in a telephone interview
that in a worst-case scenario
continued on page 7
PRSRT STD
US POSTAGE
PAID
Permit #183
Greenfield, MA
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
page 2 • Shelburne Falls Independent • May 24-June 6, 2007 • www.sfindependent.net
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Heath voters approve school budgets
By Michael Wilmeth
michael@sfindependent.net
—————
HEATH—Business was accomplished: voters approved
school budgets, adopted a windpower bylaw and recommended
impeachment of the President.
But on the whole the May 12
annual town meeting seemed
like a community get-together,
with daffodils on the selectmen’s
table, a plenitude of homemade
snacks offered in exchange for
donations to the Heath Elementary School library, and a twohour meeting (including a snack
break) leavened with humor.
The tone was set at the meeting’s opening, when moderator
Doug Wilkins remarked, “It’s
bright in here, I think I’ll roll
down that shade,” then pulled
down a window shade to reveal
a poster attached to it reading
“Happy birthday, Tom Lively!”
While most spending articles
were passed over until the meeting’s continuation June 23 (in order to have state budget figures
in hand before voting on them),
selectmen and the finance committee recommended voting on
and passing articles concerning
assessments from the Mohawk
Trail Regional School District
(MTRSD) and the Franklin
County Technical School, which
voters did without discussion.
At $727,055, the town’s operating assessment from the Mohawk
district amounts to about 60
percent of the town’s estimated
tax levy for the coming fiscal
year, but because the state’s
formula for calculating a town’s
minimum contribution toward
funding schools now takes into
account residents’ incomes as
well as property values, the finance committee reported that
Heath’s minimum contribution
will likely decline over the next
five years.
Voters were asked to reconsider changes to the Mohawk
regional agreement allowing the
school committee to close schools
and reassign students, which the
town rejected last year. The requests were voted down again
with almost no discussion and
only a few yea votes.
Another set of proposed
changes to the regional agreement, brought by petition, would
require that voters in a town
where a school was slated for closure must approve the closure by
a two-thirds majority and would
set rules for a town to withdraw
from the District, among other
things. This article was passed
over until the continuation of the
meeting so that voters will have
the benefit of a thorough discussion of the changes scheduled for
June 4.
Pat Beck, D.C.
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“I expected we’d be talking
a little longer, but since we’re
moving right along, maybe I’ll be
cutting my grass a little sooner,”
Mohawk Superintendent Michael Buoniconti said.
Appointments were made
to fill the offices of tree warden, measurers of wood and
bark, fence viewers and sexton
and burial agent. Members of
the current roster of field drivers, responsible for rounded
up escaped livestock, were reappointed to their offices in a
nomination-second vote procedure that took place with wellpracticed speed.
Bob Gruen mentioned that he
and Budge Litchfield had been
appointed field drivers years ago,
but managed to hand off the job
to their wives — for which they
suffered at home.
While not making a formal
nomination, Hazel Porter said
that Martha McCutchen assisted
her ably in handling an itinerant
cow in her yard. McCutchen,
however, knows enough to be
cautious about the subject; she
said that when was new to Heath
and asked what a field driver is,
she was immediately nominated
to be one.
The work of field-drivers is
compensated at five cents an
hour. Acknowledging that the
pay may not have kept up with
the times, Art Schwenger suggested raising the rate by 20
percent to increase interest in
the position.
Wind tower bylaw
Calvin Carr of the planning
board introduced the proposed
wind-power bylaw, speaking
strongly in favor of small-scale
windmills as a way to counter the
peril of global warming. The bylaw is meant to allow domesticscale windmills while allowing
neighbors a voice in where they
are situated. The planning board
expects to take up a bylaw to address commercial wind turbines
in the near future, member Dino
Schnelle said. Selectman Sheila
Litchfield praised the board for
its “exhaustive research” and
for developing a bylaw that “has
brought Heath into the future in
an amazing way.”
The meeting approved the bylaw, which applies to wind-power
systems up to 100 kilowatts. It
sets a height limit of 116 feet,
although greater heights may
be approved through the special
permit process, and requires that
noise at the nearest property line
be 65 decibels or less. The potentially thorny issue of windmill
appearance is dealt with without
any attempt to formulate acceptable sites in a legalistic way.
“Full consideration shall be
given to minimizing negative
impact on the view from an
abutting residential structure
or public view shed,” the bylaw
states.
The Board of Health asked
voters to allow it to appoint one
of its members to serve as the
board’s clerk, as the 2006 town
Circulation
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Neighbors, Avery’s General Store, and
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5 State Street
Shelburne Falls, MA
01370
413-625-8494
THINK AHEAD!
Rototilling
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Spring Clean-Up
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Weekly Mowing Brush Hog Mowing
Landscape Maintenance Tree Work
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413 624 0140
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Suite #24, 110 North Hillside Rd., South Deerfield
By appointment only
Tuesday and Wednesday, 11 a.m.–2 p.m.;
Thursdays and Fridays, 3 p.m.–7 p.m.
Miner new director
Photo courtesy Norm Aitken
Audrey Clark, left, and two friends on the Bridge of Flowers
during the Great Strides Walkathon on May 19.
Great Strides walk raises
$6,000+ for cystic fibrosis
SHELBURNE FALLS—As
one who lives with cystic fibrosis, Audrey Clark has long
participated, mostly from the
sidelines, in the Great Strides
walkathon.
This year, thanks to her
recent lung transplant, the
13-year-old from Shelburne
walked the 2.5-kilometer
short route, her mother, Sandy
Gaffey, reported proudly.
Audrey joined more than
40 people participating in the
eighth annual Shelburne Falls
walk in which 12 participants
covered the entire 10-kilometer course.
The weather held out and
sun warmed the walkers along
the two courses that follow
routes similar to those followed by runners in the Bridge
of Flowers Classic 2.5K and
10K races.
But the Walkathon was
more than just fun.
“We brought in just over
ASHFIELD—Nicole Miner is
the new director of the Ashfield
Youth Commission. The 23-yearold Ashfield native says she
remembers being a part of the
group “when I was little.”
“I love kids, I love planning
and my stepmother’s on the committee and she asked if I would
be interested,” said the energetic
COLRAIN—Did the Romans
Miner of how she came to her do crossword puzzles? Ask Will
new role.
Johnston, crossword puzzle constructor and tournament champ,
who will discuss the craft of
puzzle-making at a meeting of
$6,100,” Gaffey said.
The money goes to research
efforts of the nonprofit Cystic
Fibrosis Foundation, based in
Maryland.
Cystic fibrosis is an inherited chronic disease that
affects the lungs and digestive systems of about 70,000
people worldwide, including
30,000 children and adults in
the United States, according
to the CFF Web site.
Those who live with the
disease must cope with sticky
mucus that compromises the
body in a number of ways.
Clogged lungs lead to lifethreatening lung infections,
and the mucus obstructs the
pancreas and stops natural
enzymes from helping the
body break down and absorb
food.
Donations still can be made
by calling Gaffey at (413) 6250227 or by visiting www.cff.org/
great_strides/.
Puzzle it out in Colrain
Dairy
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _from front page
appointed by the Governor; one
milk processing representative
to be appointed by the Governor;
and one member from the Massachusetts Food Association.
“The Commonwealth’s 6,100
farms – more than 80 percent
of them small, family-owned
businesses – provide the state
with $6 billion in revenue while
supporting approximately 13,500
jobs,” said Acting Commissioner
of Agriculture Scott Soares. “Beyond these statistics, it is impossible to calculate the value of the
wholesome character farming
lends to the Massachusetts landscape. In casting his vote for the
A Brush
with Fate
Q
25 Main Street
Northampton, MA
01060
413-585-5969
meeting (and this one, again)
allowed assessors to do. A clerk
can handle the substantial paperwork involved in fulfilling
the boards’ duties, which several
people argued is a greater burden than board members can
be expected to shoulder, given
their small stipends. A clerk is
also available to assist the public
between board meetings.
The case for appointing a
board member clerk is based in
the fact that there is considerable knowledge needed to do
the board’s routine business,
knowledge most readily found
in board members.
Budge Litchfield expressed
concern that selectmen exercise
supervision over a board member/clerk. Selectman Tom Lively
said the authority of the board
of health and board of assessors
is independent of selectmen,
so they must oversee their own
clerks, but that selectmen will
ensure that clerks have a job
description and are meeting its
demands. Citizens can evaluate
clerks themselves as they interact with them, he added.
Schwenger warned against
the ability to serve as clerk becoming a requirement (even an
informal one) for board members
in the future.
The meeting approved the
article, allowing – but not requiring — a board of health member
to act as clerk.
A secret ballot was held for
the vote on a resolution directing
Congress to begin impeachment
proceedings against George W.
Bush and Richard B. Cheney for
a variety of violations of federal
and international law. The resolution was approved 65-10.
A small Gallery filled
with large dreams!
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Wrapsures…silk art to wear
accessories ... Glass and
unusual giftwares…
All art should have a great
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Hours: Thurs – Sun 12 to 5ish
20 State Street Shelburne Falls
Resolution in Support of New
England Agriculture Governor
Patrick recognizes the wisdom
of supporting an industry that
has historically provided our
state with myriad economic and
environmental benefits.”
Heath to apply for
historic designation
HEATH—The Heath Historical Commission invites all interested parties to attend a public
information session on Thursday,
May 24 at 7 p.m. at the Heath
School, 18 Jacobs Road.
The purpose of the meeting
is to discuss the town’s application for listing the Heath Center
Historic District in the National
Register of Historic Places. Betsy
Friedberg, director of the National Register Program for the
Massachusetts Historical Commission, and Bonnie Parsons,
historian of the Pioneer Valley
Planning Commission, will give
a presentation, answer questions
and receive comments about
Heath’s application.
If you have questions call Del
Viarengo, commission chairman,
at (413) 337-8619.
413.625.2256
If you forgot it, lost it, need it, or just want it...Avery’s probably has it
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127 Main St., Mohawk Trail • Charlemont
413-339-4915
The locally owned
drugstore where life is
simpler, they know you
by name, and there’s
still a soda fountain
The
BAKER
Pharmacy
Mondays–Fridays 8:30 a.m.–8 p.m.
Saturdays 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m.
Closed Sundays
52 BRIDGE ST., SHELBURNE FALLS • (413) 625-6324
the Colrain Historical Society
Thursday, June 14, in the Crocker
Abbey in back of the G. William
Pitt House in Colrain Center.
A math textbook editor and
crossword whiz who is among the
35 fastest solvers in the country,
Johnston has created crosswords
that have appeared in The New
York Times and other major newspapers and Games magazine. He
moderates an online forum at the
Times Web site, www.nytimes.com,
where people discuss the daily
crossword.
The evening will begin with
a business meeting at 7 p.m.
followed by Johnston’s talk at
7:30 p.m. Refreshments will be
served and crossword fans of all
ages are welcome. Bring a pencil
to try out some mini-activities.
Colrain Memorial Day
festivities planned
COLRAIN—This year’s annual
Memorial Day parade marchers
will assemble in the parking
lot of the First Baptist Church
of Colrain at 9:30 a.m. Monday,
May 28. The parade steps off at
10 a.m., marching to the bridge
and West Branch Cemetery for a
ceremony and returning to the
church.
If it rains the ceremony will
take place in the church.
All those wishing to join in the
parade are welcome. Baseball
players are encouraged to wear
uniforms and hats.
Shelburne Falls parade
SHELBURNE FALLS—The
annual Memorial Day parade
will run from the center of town
and end up at Arms Cemetery.
Active and inactive military, as
well as Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts,
Brownies, and Girl Scouts are
welcome to march.
Participants are to meet in
front of McCusker’s Market on
State Street at 9:30, and the
parade will begin at 10 a.m.
Barbecue after parade
ASHFIELD—The First Congregational Church of Ashfield and
the Ashfield Lions Club will host
the annual chicken barbecue on
the church lawn after the Memorial Day parade Monday, May
28. The menu includes chicken,
potato salad, coleslaw and roll.
Cost is $9/person. Reservations
can be made by calling (413)
628-4705.
Shelburne Falls Independent • May 24-June 6, 2007 • www.sfindependent.net • page 3
Buckland approves school budget
contingent on success of override
Holocaust reunion
Dormant but essential 1963 grader to be replaced;
voters debate genetic engineering and other issues
By Michael Wilmeth
michael@sfindependent.net
—————
BUCKLAND—Voters here
didn’t scuttle the $17.6 million
Mohawk Trail Regional School
District’s (MTRSD) operating
budget at the May 9 annual town
meeting, but they made the full
amount of the assessment contingent on a subsequent vote at
the ballot box.
Voters agreed to appropriate
$1,647, 016 toward the assessment plus another $109,843
-- contingent on an override to
the Proposition 2½ tax cap.
The District needs Buckland’s
vote, as Charlemont, Hawley and
Colrain voters have rejected the
budget.
Much of the debate concerned
the override — less about whether to vote one than whether it
should be tied to the Mohawk assessment. School Committee representative Jon Wyman argued
for paying the full assessment
with no part of it dependent on
an override. He pointed out the
disadvantage to the District of
override-funded monies: payment from the town remains
uncertain until July, keeping the
budget up in the air. Under his
proposal, the town would have to
either make cuts in its budget or
pass an override to pay for town
expenses.
Several people spoke in support of Wyman’s position, including Greenfield teacher Jason
Schneider, who said hitching
the school budget rather than
the town’s budget to an override
makes it seem as if education
is an optional expense. He defended the high cost of schools,
citing numerous fixed costs,
and said that when schools are
underfunded teachers pay for
needed supplies out of their own
pockets.
Finance Committee ChairwomanDena Willmore, explained
that her panel supported placing the burden of an override
on the school budget because
members believe the town is running as lean as is possible, while
with “structural changes” the
Mohawk District could operate
more efficiently.
The meeting voted to stick
with making part of the Mohawk
assessment contingent on an
override, and passed it by the
two-thirds majority required.
The vote was not without
the now familiar hand wringing over the dire situation the
town is put in given the size of
its school assessment. Resident
Elaine Parmett said that for the
first time in 32 years she was
not comfortable supporting an
override because she fears that
the tax burden will force local
people to leave the area and
that others — especially those
with school-age children — will
be unable to afford to move in.
Resident Paula Consolo said
she joined the finance committee
to bring insight into the schools,
but that she has also learned
a great deal about the town’s
plight.
“As much as I care about
the schools, we can’t allow the
schools to bring the town down,”
Consolo said.
Jonathan Diamond of Heath
attended the meeting, intending to discuss a set of proposed
changes to the agreement governing the Mohawk District
brought be petition article from
Heath residents, but the meeting
voted to pass over the matter.
Town concerns
In light of tight finances, the
request that the town borrow up
to $230,000 to buy a road grader
might have seemed a long-shot,
but Highway Department Foreman Steve Daby succeeded in
persuading voters that it was
needed for a number of tasks,
chiefly grading the town’s 6.3
miles of dirt road but also for
ditching roadsides, pushing back
snow banks and reclaiming battered paved roads.
The highway department’s
1963 grader has not been usable
for two years; a front-end loader
has been used as a not-verysatisfactory makeshift replacement. While renting a grader
or contracting out the work has
been studied, town officials concluded the best option is to buy,
perhaps used.
“It pains me to stand here
tonight and ask for money,”
said Town Administrator Bob
Dean, regarding an article asking voters to agree to borrow
$100,000 to repair the town garage, but it would pain him more,
he said, if someone were hurt
due to the building’s structural
deficiencies.
An engineering consultant
has recommended replacing the
building at a cost of $1.9 million
if built on the current garage’s
Conway Street site. The repairs
are a stopgap, but at slightly
more than one-twentieth the
cost of a new building, seem to
be the more palatable option for
now. The article passed.
The meeting approved a rightto-farm bylaw prepared by the
Agricultural Commission created
at the 2006 town meeting. The
bylaw re-affirms rights already
protected by Mass. General
Law.
A number of articles were
intended primarily to promote
discussion and to offer voters the
opportunity to make statements
on various issues. Selectmen
Kevin Fox and Clayton Herbert
seemed impatient with these
articles and repeatedly made motions to end debate, sometimes
successfully, sometimes not.
Resident Gayle Davidson
brought to the meeting an article
to declare Buckland a “violencefree zone,” in order to make
young people feel safe. Resident
John Snyder noted that there
are many kinds of violence and
asked how violence was being
defined for the purposes of the
article. His question was not answered and discussion was soon
cut off, but the article passed.
Two of three articles pertaining to genetically engineered
crops passed after spirited
debate.
One requested that legislation be enacted to reverse the
West County
SEAC at RiverFest
SHELBURNE FALLS—SEAC,
West County’s own Sustainable
Energy Action Committee, encourages people to stop by its
booth on Saturday, June 9 from
10 a.m.-4 p.m. during RiverFest
in the village.
SEAC, a diverse group of 32
West County residents, has been
meeting to “face global warming
head-on and locally” and will
offer a variety of ways to “$ave
energy, $ave money, & $ave our
planet.”
At the SEAC booth, Co-op Power will have info on the biodiesel
plant in the works for Greenfield
and people will also be able to
experience a working solar panel
-- producing clean, “green,” radiant heating. Information and
demonstrations of clean energy
and efficiency products will be
on display compliments of the
Greenfield Solar Store.
The group will even bake a
solar pie. Heath resident Pat
Leuchtman and her crew of local
food producers will have food
for a “100-mile diet” (a diet that
does not require more than 100
miles of transport for food one
is eating).
Western Mass. Electric Company (WMECO) and the Center
for Ecological Technology will be
on hand to explain programs that
encourage energy savings, including the Wind Fund through
which towns can earn two free
photovoltaic panels installed on
any town building. WMECO will
also offer compact fluorescent
bulbs and other prizes to give
away.
Locally made, super
premium ice cream
served from an ice
cream truck.
Available for parties
and events.
Visit the Hilltown Ice Cream truck at Riverfest
on June 9! We’ll be at Malley Park, serving ice
cream, snow cones and cold drinks!
PREMIUM ICE CREAM
www.hilltownicecream.com
413-634-5728
current legal liability in cases
where unwanted genetically engineered (GE) material — such
as pollen drifting from a field
of Roundup-Ready corn grown
from seeds bio-engineered by
Monsanto — contaminates a
crop. Whereas now the farmer
whose field is contaminated is
liable for unauthorized use of
a patented product, the article
envisions holding the manufacturer of the GE crop liable for
the unwanted trespass. The other
iterates a resolution approved by
the town in 2002 that called for
legislation requiring the labeling
of GE food products and seeds.
The third article (not passed)
asked town officials to “encourage a local moratorium on the
growing of GE crops or the raising of GE livestock” until they
are proven safe and called on
state and federal legislators for
a broader moratorium, along
with financial aid for farmers
making the transition away from
GE crops.
The meeting approved a resolution to send a message to
Governor Deval Patrick and
state legislators in support of
increased school funding, in
particular through state reserve
fund or “pothole” grants, the
RED Circuit Breaker, lowering
the threshold of the special
education circuit breaker and
creating a “foundation” budget
that reflects the actual cost of
operating schools.
After brief discussion, the
meeting passed a resolution
calling on the U.S. House of
Representatives to undertake
investigations with an eye to
impeaching George W. Bush and
Richard Cheney.
Volunteers honored
GREENFIELD—Elaine Chichester of Conway and Helen Peterson of Colrain were among the
volunteers honored by Baystate
Franklin Medical Center during
National Volunteers Week.
Chichester has put in between
2,000-2,999 volunteer hours and
Peterson 1,000-1,999 hours at the
hospital.
13 years old, along with her
mother, aunt, sister and father.
The family was then separated,
and none of them knew what
happened to each other.
“Her father died in the
camp is what we know,” said
Racz, who has a passport-type
Nazi document showing a photograph of his mother as very
young. Handwriting on the
document lists all the places
she was sent, and has become
a family treasure.
“This is something my father
saved,” Racz said, his eyes
tearing.
Racz said his father, Edward, recalls vividly when the
Germans came into Budapest,
where he was a student.
“My father remembers that
day when the Nazis went into
the school and gave them all
two choices: either fight with
the Russians or go into a concentration camp,” Racz said.
“My father was forced to join
their Air Force, then ended up
in a camp anyway.”
After the war ended, Edward
met Akulina. The couple married and had two sons, Eduard
and Stefan. The family got
a sponsor and sailed to the
United States when Stefan was
six years old.
“We left out of Bremerhaven,
Germany on the USNS General
W.C. Langfitt,” he said.
The family settled in the
Charlemont area and worked
on a farm picking berries.
“I can remember picking
strawberries so much I couldn’t
stand seeing them anymore,”
Stefan laughed.
When it came time for school
to start, Mrs. Racz insisted on
riding the school bus with her
sons, which they allowed her to
do.
“She was afraid the Americans would take us like the
Germans did with her, so she
would ride with us and a teacher would give her a ride back
home,” her son said.
Making connections
As the family grew, members
had no idea that blood relatives
were alive and well in Estonia
and Latvia as well as in St.
Petersburg, Russia.
Then, in December 2006, the
request by Gurbanova, looking
for the Racz family, came to
the American Red Cross North
Central Massachusetts Chapter
from the Holocaust and War
Victims Tracing and Information Center. After considerable
digging and record checking,
the family was located living
in Buckland.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _from front page
Contact was made with the
elder Edward Racz to notify
him that a relative was searching for him. He in turn spoke
to Stefan, who contacted the
Leominster office to get details.
Both men signed the release
form, which went back to Baltimore to the tracing center.
Within a matter of weeks,
Stefan Racz’s cousin made
initial contact.
“It was amazing to hear
that I have an aunt and some
cousins,” Racz said. “Of course
we started communicating and
sending pictures back and
forth.”
The only sad moment was
when he had to tell his aunt
that her sister, Akulina, had
passed away. She was 72 when
she died in 1999.
“She was very sad about that
when we told her,” he said.
“She had no idea her sister had
died.”
Racz said that it took his
father, 85, about a month to
realize that this was really happening, and then it sank in.
“He was shocked; now he
asks me every day if I’ve heard
anything from them,” Racz
said. “I tell him if I got an email or pictures, and he comes
right over.”
Stefan Racz and his wife,
Roxana, have a college-age
daughter who is enjoying communicating with her second
cousins.
“Whenever they write, I
forward it over to our daughter,
Becky, and she replies, too,”
Racz said. “She thinks it’s
great. One of the young girls
from Estonia would like to
come out here for college so we
are looking into it for her.”
Racz remembers that his
mother spoke six languages
and said that when she was
angry with him and his older
brother, she would discipline
the boys in Russian. Akulina
Racz was not only fluent in Russian, but also spoke German,
Latvian, Polish, Hungarian and
English.
Racz said that finding his
relatives is an amazing experience for him and his family,
adding that several years ago
his father received a note from
the Red Cross that his older
sister was looking for him, but
she died before contact was
made.
This experience has turned
out differently and brings joy
to the families involved.
“They are also happy that
we communicate,” Racz said.
“With modern technology
and e-mails, it makes it much
SFI file photo/Jeff Potter
Stefan Racz.
easier.”
Racz scanned a photograph
of his mother into his computer
with one of her sister and said
the two sisters look nearly
identical.
“I put them side by side
and my father was stunned
at the resemblance of the two
women,” he said. “[Looking
at her] is like looking at my
mother again.”
The Racz family intends to
stay in touch with their relatives and is grateful for the rare
opportunity to know them.
“It’s just amazing,” Roxana
Racz said.
Since its inception in 1990, the
Holocaust and War Victims Tracing Center has documented the
fates of approximately 12,000
victims of Nazi persecution and
reunited more than 1,200 people
with loved ones missing for 50
years or longer. All tracing services of the Red Cross are free. Survivors needing documentation
about interment or information
about the fates of missing loved
ones can obtain that data at
the tracing center by contacting
their local Red Cross chapter. The
International Tracing Service in
Arolsen, Germany is the single
largest repository of original Nazi
documentations in the world. Its
vast record cache included lists of
people interred in concentration,
forced and slave labor camps and
ghettos, and post-war documents
of displaced persons and people
who immigrated to countries
around the world. For more information, call (978) 537-3339,
ext. 12 or visit www.ncmcredcross.
org.Diane C. Beaudoin is director of emergency service for the
American Red Cross.
The Deerfield River Watershed Association presents
The 19th Annual
Celebrating Energy that’s Clean and Green
Shelburne Falls • Saturday, June 9
10 a.m.–1 p.m. • Rain or Shine
• RiverFest is dedicated to promoting and sustaining
enlightened use of the Deerfield River watershed
• Hop a ride to any of the RiverFest activities
on the FREE trolley-bus shuttle!
EVENTS
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Information: Polly Bartlett, 625-6628; dbartlet@crocker.com
page 4 • Shelburne Falls Independent • May 24-June 6, 2007 • www.sfindependent.net
Jeff Potter, Editor and Publisher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . jeff@sfindependent.net
Virginia Ray, Managing Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ginny@sfindependent.net
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I NDEPENDENT T HINKING
Opinion and Commentary • Memoirs • Essays • Dispatches • Letters from Readers
The Independent is committed to free exchange of ideas from the community. No matter what your politics,
we welcome thoughtful contributions, and we encourage further discussion on anything you read on these pages.
L E T T E R S F RO M R E A D E RS
Diagnosis, proper treatment essential
for those affected by Lyme disease
To the Editor of the Independent:
Thank you for an article
[”Lyme disease on the move,”
April 12–25] that brings attention to Lyme disease.
This very serious disease can
greatly affect your life. My husband, daughter, and I all have
battled chronic lyme disease after being infected in Greenfield,
where we lived. I have testified
before a Massachusetts legislative subcommittee and have
written about our family’s battle.
Lyme disease is the “great imitator,” mimicking many different
illnesses. With me, Brigham and
Women’s hospital “thought” I
had multiple sclerosis. With my
husband, the disease went after
his heart. With our daughter it
most likely brought on the onset
of her bipolar illness.
Doctors’ names are not printed
because of fear that they may
be targeted. Fortunately, I knew
about Lyme disease and did my
own research; there are good
Lyme Web sites and e-mail support groups. I found an excellent Lyme-literate doctor in
Stamford, Ct. who now practices
in Manhatten. “Dr. R” is one of
the foremost and agressive treatment physicians of this illness.
Long term antibiotics are
necessary in the treatment of
chronic lyme disease. I was immediately started in IV antibiotics for one year followed with another eight months of orals. I also
had babesiosis — a co-infection
that is also tick borne. I am fine
ESSAY
now due to this treatment, but
my ability to function had been
greatly impeded. I had horrific
By Robert Nylen
symptoms that are now gone. My
husband, after two years on orals
and under the care of an excelored dead. I hope not. Schaefer They fought in Korea, the Gulf lent cardiologist at Dartmouth
had argued with me not to put War, WWII, WWI, the Spanis also doing well. Our daughter
ish American War, the War
Cloud on point. Poor bastards,
is doing well also.
Between the States, the Gulf
both of them.
This very serious illness is
Wars, Afghanistan; they fought causing havoc in the medical
Months later, when I was
in all those damned wars. Tolong recovered and back with
community, still unquestionday, we know very few of them, ably at odds over chronic Lyme
First Platoon, Delta Company,
fallen or living. They are names disease and its treatment. There
I assigned two newcomers,
Cumbry and Hartry, both black on a wall, words chiseled into
is a desperate need for Lymeneat plaques, baseplates on
kids, one from Detroit, the
hundred-year-old vainglorious
other, Texas’ piney woods, to
statues, but they never seem
spend a night on a listening
real, these vanished souls.
post. The duo had no defensive protection, no bunker, not Instead, all at once, impossibly,
even a sandbag. They were just they are idealized, over-dramatized — yet at the same time,
supposed to listen and then
largely forgotten as individual
scurry home if they detected
enemy movement. Hours later, humans with a million unfulthey were blown up in a mortar filled dreams.
To the Editor of the Independent:
Yet even when we don’t
attack preceding an assault on
I believe that those continuknow who they were, can’t
our base camp.
ing to press for consolidation
recall their faces or conjure
Other people I served with
have chosen to ignore a growing
were blinded, paralyzed, muti- up their heroics, or feel their
body of research that indicates
lated, or killed, like Gunny Ser- mortal terrors, we should
consolidation does not result in
remember them, not because
geant McCants and his boss,
either educational improvements
they were Trojans, Hussars, or
Marines with whom I rode
or financial savings. They have
gladiators, but because they
jeeps before I came home—
chosen to ignore the what we
did what they had to. They
jeeps that blew up underhave learned about projected
were our boys, our friends,
neath them after I was safely
and our buddies. They smoked savings and costs of consolidaback in the Land of the Giant
tion generated by the Mohawk
cigarettes with us, they ate K
PX—but I didn’t feel personTrail Regional School Districts
rations or C rations, and they
ally responsible for the rest of
Interim Planning Budget Subdied.
them. I didn’t feel responsible
committee and much of the work
Maybe I’m just blowing
for Sellars, who walked into a
of the Interim Planning Educasmoke here, professing surbooby trap, or the gunner in
tion Subcommittee. Finally, they
vivor guilt, going all emotive
our mortar platoon who threw
are choosing to force an agenda
on you decades after the fact.
a grenade at his buddies, a
by ignoring or attempting to
prank that went bad and killed I can go from one year to the
override our regional agreement,
next without thinking about
three people. I didn’t feel
which was designed to allow each
these guys at all. That’s the
responsible for Doc Froemtown to protect the interests of
problem: the forgetting. Warming, whose eyes were ruined
its community and children.
by a satchel charge even as we fare is dirty business. That’s
Consolidation will not solve
stood side by side, even though true even when we fight for
our financial crisis. At best it will
just causes. It’s true when we
Doc was the best man I knew
take temporary care of less that
in that bad place. That was just know our enemies are evil
a quarter of it. Meanwhile, the
or the danger they present is
bad karma. Crap happens.
impact on towns of the loss of a
transparent. OK: These ain’t
school will be permanent.
exactly news flashes. These
LIKE SO MANY of their peers,
• The work of the Interim
banal truths merit repeating,
Cloud, Cumbry, and Hartry
Budget Subcommittee demonwere kids, teenagers fresh from however, especially on Memostrated that even closing three
high school, mere babies. Each rial Day.
of our four elementary schools
When we remember sacrione of them was more than ten
will only provide one or two
fices and honor and duty, we
years younger than our very
must remember that the suffer- years of financial relief. So far
own, cherished 32-year-old
ing is real, and that for some of the School Committee had no
daughter is today. These boys
us, war lasts an eternity. As we discussion and seen no figures
died isolated, their deaths unfor savings from closing only
heralded save to their families remember our dead, we must
remember to be careful. When two schools. For closing three
and their fellow grunts, and
schools, we would save $4.6 milwe send our kids to fight, we
now only their moms rememshould be darned sure we have lion spread over seven towns and
ber them truly as they were.
five years.
good reason. We must strive
I thought I’d remember
• This figure does not include
not to send them to inscrutable
every tiny detail about their
the costs of closing schools, necdemises, but I’ve forgotten too conflicts to die alone.
essary repairs to Buckland/ShelI am deeply, truly sorry it
much about me and too little
about them. I recall my flashes worked out the way it did. May burne, increased costs of busing
for regular and special-education
God bless Cloud, Cumbry, and
of bravery and many more terstudents. (The state reimburses
Hartry.
rifyingly weak moments, but
us for some of our transportation
time fogs even keen memories.
costs for regular education. It
Robert Nylen, a media consulI thought the experiences of
tant who works with online and provides nothing for specialwar were so vivid as they oceducation transportation.)
curred, scrolling like a horrible print companies, has been an
• $4.6 million is drop in the
entrepreneur, publisher, writer,
movie that wouldn’t end, that
bucket compared with projected
an adjunct professor at Smith
they had etched deep into
increases of $17.8 million over
College, and Ashfield town
my brain like acid, each cruel
that same period. Without submoderator. He was a combat
memory eating in far deeper
platoon leader in Vietnam, where stantial increases in state aide,
than does a photograph. The
he earned two purple hearts and within two years of consolidation
truth is that I remember little
we will again be unable to fund
a bronze star with V device. A
about these three men except
our schools. If a proposed soluversion of his essay originally
that for their deaths, and how
tion to a problem fails to solve
appeared on BeliefNet (www.
they appeared in death.
the problem, it follows it is not
On days like this one, Memo- beliefnet.com), a site Nylen cothe solution.
rial days, we remember all
founded.
• Meanwhile, closing Heath
our not-totally-forgotten kids.
Casualties of war
Our veterans are idealized, overdramatized —
and yet largely forgotten. A veteran describes
what we really need to remember on Memorial Day.
ASHFIELD
MEMORIAL DAY
several years ago, I
gave the address at the
town’s ceremony for the fallen.
I wished I could say something
eloquent or intimately revealing about my fallen mates. But
I found I couldn’t.
The truth is I didn’t remember them very well. I should
have, I know, I know, I know.
After all, I sent them to their
deaths. No, I didn’t kill them.
Instead, I mean I was responsible for them: The orders I
gave them were the proximate
causes of their fates.
I made the Chief walk point,
out in front of the rest of the
company, leading us into dangerous territory on a mountain
above the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
I shouldn’t have done that.
He was a short-timer due to
return to the States in a couple
of weeks. Why did I ignore his
pleas?
Foolishly, I wanted to believe
a patently false myth: Native
Americans had mystical warrior talents, or so we hoped.
(Our red brothers could see
enemy troops in jungles where
white, brown, or black Americans saw only impenetrable foliage.) Cloud argued with me,
he fretted, he complained, he
told me how wrong I was. He
was just a regular guy off the
Rez, he said, with no special
tracking skills, but I told him
he had to walk point because
we all knew he was so good at
this stuff and there were bad
people out there.
He sensed something terrible was going to happen. He
may not have been able to see
through triple-layer canopy,
but his perception was clearer
than mine. He did his job
anyway.
For his conscientiousness,
he was shot many, many times.
He had foreseen and dreaded
this very ambush, but he was
powerless to prevent it. His
gifts were not really gifts at all.
They were jujus, phantasmagoria, and the residue of superstitious, silly, wishful thinking.
Everyone in my platoon believed in those gifts but Cloud.
He died in minutes.
The second man in line,
squad leader Schaefer, was
shot through five of his joints
— both knees, a wrist, an
elbow, a hip; and as a special
savage bonus, he was hit in the
gut too. He was alive when we
got to him. We Medevaced him
and the next two guys in line.
The third man was shot in his
right foot. His wound was bad
enough to get him out of that
bad place but not nearly so bad
as to be life threatening. The
fourth man was shot in his left
buttock, which meant a nice,
fat scar and a joyful trip home.
Fifth in line: me. I was
unscathed.
Days later, though, I too was
shot. After surgery, I awoke
across from poor Schaefer. He
was still in intensive care, suffering mightily. I don’t know to
this day if he survived. Maybe
he should be on this list of hon-
O
N
litera
literate
lite
rate ph
physicians
hysi
sici
cian
anss wh
who
o ca
can
n he
hel
help
lp
lp
patients without a fear of being
prosecuted for diagnosing and
treating this illness.
If you have Lyme disease,
you’ll likely battle medical insurance carriers that do not pay
for the doctor visits to many
Lyme-literate physicians, though
insurance will often pay for
medication. Only a handful of
labs in this country can do a
sensitive Lyme test; they are
most likely not used by your local
doctor or hospital. Fewer than
50 percent of tick bites have the
bull’s-eye rash. Many Lyme tests
yield false negatives. Diagnosis
of Lyme disease is supposed to
be clinical — supported by the
blood test.
The Centers for Disease Control says only about 10 percent
of people who have contracted
Lyme disease are identified
properly. I have three very close
friends with chronic Lyme disease, plus my own family. That
represents six people. So just
from my own little equation,
I know there are another 50
people out there who have it but
are not identified.
The first Lyme research/treatment center has just opened at
Columbia University in New
York City. Dr. Brian Fallon, the
director, is a noted reseacher
in this field. The Lyme Disease
Association was instrumental in
raising funds for this center.
I have the names of Lymeliterate doctors, and I am more
than pleased to talk with anyone
about this illness. The International Lyme and Infectious Disease Society (www.ilads.org) can
provide additional information.
SUSAN M. LOUISIGNAU
Northfield, May 14
School consolidation proponents
ignore research and facts
and Colrain schools is likely to
send more Mohawk elementary
students out of district to Rowe,
Hawlemont, perhaps Leyden,
charter schools; and to increase
the number of students being
home-schooled. This will create
further drains on the Mohawk
budget, as state money follows
students out of the district.
Consolidation will not improve
education.
• The Interim Budget Subcommittee budget projections
make it clear that there will
be no savings of a magnitude
needed to make curriculum
improvements.
• The Interim Education Subcommittee made it a priorty
for any plan to keep class sizes
small. In the Interim Budget
Subcommittee’s projections
there was an effort to preserve
the Interim Education Subcommittee’s recommendations on
class sizes. With the quick return
of financial shortfalls, however,
small class sizes will be the first
thing to be cut. In fact, there has
already been the suggestion from
some that we could get more
savings from consolidation if we
created larger classes.
• Some have said consolidation would allow our schools to
have after-school programs and
extracurricular activities. This
will only really work, however,
for children living close enough
to the central school to take advantage of them. Many parents
will be unable to provide the
transportation that after-school
programs at a centralized school
will require.
• Preschool education for
children in towns with closed
schools is likely to disappear.
This will leave many children
in our district without a viable
option for preschool.
• Buckland/Shelburne is too
small to hold all of our elementary students. If we take the next
step next year and close Ashfield, we will need to send sixth
graders to middle school. The
majority of the members of the
education committee felt that
sending sixth graders on busses
with middle and high school
students and isolating them from
other elementary students would
not be educationally beneficial.
What is more, it is most likely to
have the most negative effect on
the districts most at risk sixth
grade students.
Pursuing consolidation against
the wishes of member towns works
against a successful regional district by pitting towns against one
another. This makes the development of a collaborative approach
to operating our schools more and
more difficult. It undermines trust,
which research tells us is one of
the most essential contributors to
successful schools.
• For years we have explored
consolidation. We have visited it
again and again without being
able to come up with a plan that
all towns can support. No town
wants its school closed. That is
the long and the short of it.
• Closing schools will work
to the advantage of those towns
that retain an elementary school.
No lasting benefit has been demonstrated for children in towns,
or for towns as a whole, that lose
schools. This means that towns
that lose schools will continue
to bear greater and greater costs
for an education that is losing
value, and their children will
bear all the disadvantages that
go with long bus rides and the
loss of a community school.
• Pushing blindly ahead with
consolidation under these circumstances can hardly result in
a happy resolution or healthy
district.
What we need to do now is
to continue to come together as
towns, schools, and a district to
support our superintendent’s effort to lobby the state to pay for
its share of public education. In
the interim, we need innovative
outside-of-the-box thinking that
will allow us to preserve local
schools that meet the needs of
all our children and make the
MTRD a magnet district to parents in surrounding communities and an attractive place for
families with young children to
live.
PAMELA PORTER
Heath, May 14
The writer represents Heath on
the Mohawk Trail Regional School
Committee.
Shelburne Falls Independent • May 24-June 6, 2007 • www.sfindependent.net • page 5
There’s only us
The strengths of the Mohawk district lie in our interconnections.
Forging ahead with consolidation of our schools brings us further down
the road of pitting towns against one another. Is this really what we want?
HEATH
someone
coming out in favor of
consolidation, but I was
concerned about the factual errors and timing of Peggy Hart’s
and Jon Wyman’s Viewpoint,
“Regional agreement change:
the last piece” [Independent,
April 26–May 9]. Some history
is in order here.
1) In the fall of 2005, Michael Buoniconti (then a less
experienced superintendent)
announced in the papers that
we were going to go with the
building committee’s report
to close Buckland-Shelburne
Elementary (BSE), the primary
school in the need of most
repair and with the most resale
value, and send their kids to
the high school. Pushback from
BSE parents mostly focused on
proposing that Heath and/or
Colrain Elementary be closed
instead.
2) Following a meeting
with the community in Heath
the superintendent agreed to
spend the year studying the
issue.
3) The interim planning committee studied the issue for
seven weeks, not eight months.
No outside consultants,
economists, or evidence-based
methods were used to determine the impact on the rural
communities and economies
of West County. Savings of $3
million-$5 million for closing
three schools were touted, but
no costs for consolidating were
projected.
4) In response, Ken Rocke,
then a retired superintendent
of a school district in central
Massachusetts, put hundreds
of hours into projecting the
cost of closing schools using
the interim planning committee’s own numbers. As a result,
Buoniconti made clear that
there would be no significant
savings for the district from
closing two schools and said
any consolidation plan had
to include a third school. The
interim planning committee
recommended closing Ashfield,
Heath, and Colrain.
5) At a special meeting of
the school committee on Jan.
3 (prior to the school committee’s scheduled Jan. 10 vote on
consolidation) a full auditorium of people turned out and
gave Pam Porter’s minority
report against closing schools
or any form of consolidation
a standing ovation. The school
committee then postponed
their Jan. 10 vote, arguing that
the committee needed more
time to digest the interim
planning committee’s majority
report.
6) At the Jan. 10 meeting
Superintendent Buoniconti,
recognizing that no plan to
responsibly close one or more
schools could be implemented
for the coming year, made an
effort to galvanize the district
and focus on the lobbying effort by recommending the district and the school committee
table any further discussion of
consolidation until fiscal year
’09 if it was still necessary. In
a split vote the school committee decided not to support
the superintendent’s proposal.
Folks in support of consolidation (only three voices on
Jan. 3) rallied and came out
to speak in favor of a plan to
move forward with closing the
schools. Despite the fact that
the community was told no
decision was going to be made
until Jan. 24, which resulted in
a much smaller turnout, more
than half the people who addressed the school committee
that evening came out against
consolidation.
7) Despite some initial skepticism expressed by some members of the school committee,
the Rural/Economically Disadvantaged/Declining Enrollment
Circuit Breaker (RED-CB)
initiative was launched and
moved forward with remarkable momentum and success.
8) Simultaneously with
the lobbying effort, Heath
citizens proposed a change to
the regional agreement that
would stipulate a fair process
for towns to determine if they
wanted to keep their schools
open (they should pay more)
and how the district should
handle the costs of a closing
school in the event a town
opted to do so (those towns
affected by the closings should
see more of the savings).
9) At present, our superintendent is talking about
I
DON’T MIND
VIEWPOINT
By Jonathan Diamond
championing the needs of rural
schools by getting out in front
of Governor Deval Patrick’s intentions to revamp the Chapter
70 formula.
10) Reverting to the failed
strategies of last summer and
fall, the school committee leadership is now back peddling
and proposing that for the
good of the district the largest
schools in the district remain
open and the smallest ones be
forced to close.
This is exactly the kind of
move the regional agreement
was intended to guard against.
able to present Polly Anderson,
my seven-year-old son Oliver’s
absolute favorite teacher, a
check for $350. Polly was also
at the Buckland town meeting.
Unfortunately, when it
comes to unpacking the current school situation, we have a
tendency to divide things into
“us and them.”
People, there is no “us and
them.”
There is only us.
REGARDING CONSOLIDATION
and the painful decision to
close schools, I’ve been very
clear where I stand.
RECENTLY I was invited to
I have been an active member of an education task force
speak at Buckland’s Annual
in Heath that for the past year
Town Meeting to an article
and a half has been explorthat Ken Rocke and several
ing the possibility of our town
of us from Heath crafted that
would start to address and fine- becoming an independent
elementary program K–6 and,
tune some of the unanswered
questions about consolidation. similar to Hawlemont, remaining in the Mohawk district for
Because the town chose to
pass over the article, no discus- grades 7–12. For the past five
years I’ve co-directed ski club
sion about it actually took
and drama club at the Heath
place. Nevertheless, I was still
school and helped coach soccer
glad I attended. Sitting in Moand baseball. My wife is the
hawk’s auditorium, I was able
co-chair of the PTP and serves
to take stock of the myriad
on the LEC.
relationships and overlaps I
My point is that if we don’t
shared with the people in that
fight for the Heath school, who
room.
will? I’m not saying I have the
I just paid a personal
property tax bill to Buckland’s answers to my current predicament; I’m just very clear what
tax collector, Linda Marcotte.
my role is. I’m perfectly pre(My psychotherapy practice
pared to lose. I hope not, but it
is located on the Buckland
wouldn’t be the first time I’ve
side of the Deerfield River
found myself on the losing end
in Shelburne Falls.) Linda is
of an issue I feel this strongly
a longtime resident of Heath
about. I believe it’s important
who was on the original committee that founded the Heath for my kids to see me take on
this fight.
school.
What’s more, it appears I’m
Phoebe Walker, the town
in good company. On Town
moderator, choices her son
Henry to the Heath school; he’s Meeting Day this year, Verin my nine-year-old son Julian’s mont voters turned out to pass
class. They both take Tae Kwon 92 percent of school budgets,
Do in Ashfield together as well. and days later the Vermont
legislature scrapped a consoliBuckland Town Administrator
Bob Dean’s daughter, Mahaila, dation plan that would have
eliminated over 75 percent of
is also in Henry and Julian’s
class. Mahailia and Julian were the state’s 280 school districts.
Vermonters know the value of
in this year’s production of
their small schools, and they
Charlotte’s Web.
will not be easy to dupe with
Paula Consolo was sitting
arguments about “efficiency”
in the front of the room with
Buckland’s Finance Commitand “cost savings.”
tee. Paula’s daughter attends
Many Heathans feel the
the Smith College Campus
same way about their small
School. My wife, Dana, went
school. In 1990, The Boston
to Smith as an undergraduGlobe published a large story
ate. I received my doctorate
on rural poverty in Massachuand Dana her masters from its setts, an account that featured
School for Social Work, where
the town of Heath prominently.
I teach every summer. Many of Ignoring for a moment that
our closest friends and colmoney is just one way to mealeagues send their children to
sure a community’s “wealth”
the Campus School.
and perhaps the most limiting,
Buckland resident and BSE
clearly many families were
parent Julie Godfrey was
living in poverty and suffering
present. She and I were at the
many of social problems that
ballpark when Julian’s team
go with it. The Heath school
played her son’s in Rookie
does more than educate stuLeague Baseball the previous
dents. It saves lives.
Wednesday. Julie’s husband,
Last spring, when I shared
Jamie, and I are coaches.The
these same observations with
three of us don’t always see
my friend Ken Rocke, he sat
eye to eye about things in the
me down in my office and said,
school district, but we do agree “Jonathan, if you want to save
that nothing exudes more pure the Heath school, you have to
joy than watching and parsave the district. But in order
ticipating in your child’s Little to save the district you have to
League experience.
save the region. And in order
I have an even stronger
to save the region, you have to
attachment to BSE. One of
save the state.” Since Ken gave
Julian’s favorite teachers,
me that little pep talk I’ve
Alexis Walendzik, works there. tried to follow his advice and
Last year “Mrs. W.,” as her
look for ways to collaborate
students affectionately call
with others in West County
her, taught second grade at
to advocate on behalf of the
the Heath school. Mrs W. really MTRSD, including helping
helped Julian knit his work
Lorena Lonergan and Mary
and study habits together. This Link set up WMassCOUNTS
year he missed her terribly
to lobby the state to meet its
and was having trouble makpromise to pay for 100 percent
ing the transition to the third
of the costs of regional transgrade. At one low point, I told
portation and support the RED
Julian if he would give his new Circuit Breaker proposal.
situation a chance I would be
Since it was the state’s popuwilling to find out what class, if lation predictions, regulations,
and building codes that caused
any, Alexis might be teaching
us to overbuild schools in the
next year and would consider
first place, the state should
letting him choice to BSE in
share some responsibility for
order to be reunited with her.
(Truthfully, even if it were pos- helping us find a solution.
Whether the district moves
sible I’m not sure I could pull
forward with some form of conoff the required logistics. I’m
solidation or not, the need to
one of those dads who when
his sons pose the Solomon-like lobby Boston for more money
question, “Daddy, which one of and to prioritize the funding
us do you love more?” answers, of preschool, elementary, and
secondary education on a state
“Whoever doesn’t want home
level is something we can all
lunch.”)
agree on. This is something we
I haven’t spent a lot of time
have in common with Governor
at BSE, but it is an intimate
part of the landscape of a town Patrick, who seems genuinely
invested in seeking bold new
I love dearly. This fall I had a
book release party and reading approaches to financing public
in the school library to benefit education.
the art program in all four
elementary schools. We were
THIS BRINGS ME to the article
I was asked to speak to at the
Buckland town meeting. With
Colrain rescinding its vote to
grant the school committee
the power to close schools,
and Heath turning it down
a second time by unanimous
vote, the district faces a stalemate for the second year in a
row. Without that authority, it
cannot consolidate. If the deal
under which a school might
be closed is a good one for the
district and all the towns, why
would any district town vote
against it? And if the deal is
not a good one, why would any
town give away that authority
to say yea or nay?
We need another plan. The
costs, the timetable, and the
process of “Plan A” — creating
a regional elementary school
and closing Colrain, Sanderson, and Heath — are unclear.
Until they are, all we will have
is continued strife and shared
confusion. It may be that the
school committee has been so
focused on creating a plan that
might work at the district level
that it has yet to fully consider
key issues at the town level.
Not all issues can be settled at
the school committee level.
In our proposal to change
the regional agreement, we
suggested that the decision
to close a school no longer
require the support of all nine
towns in the district. Instead,
only a two-thirds majority vote
of the town where the school
is located would be needed to
close a building. This would
allow proponents of consolidation to move ahead with a
plan to close or consolidate a
school and avoid one or two
other member towns preventing them from doing so, yet it
would preserve the interests
of the towns most affected by
these proposals.
Neither the towns nor the
district can reasonably negotiate in good faith concerning
the possible closing of schools
until the terms of the potential
deal are clarified and understood by all involved.
Issue #1: What happens if the
state does not agree to maintain
payments of its share of each
school’s debt (the mortgage) in
the event that a school is closed?
We all agree that in this scenario, we cannot afford to close
schools. We don’t know yet if
the state will come through.
Without the state’s help, Plan
A cannot work. So what’s plan
B?
Issue #2: If a school closes,
who pays the operating expenses
that remain?
Right now, operating costs of
all district elementary schools
are district costs and are borne
by all towns on a percentage
basis. But who should pay the
continuing operating costs of a
school building that is closed,
a school that is no longer a
school? Should the town that
lost its school have to pay to
heat their lost school?
Issue #3: If a school closes,
who pays the local share of the
debt payments that remain?
Under the current arrangement, each town pays for the
local share of debt-service
payments on its own elementary school. What if that school
is closed? Even if the state
continues to pick up its share
of the mortgage cost, we can’t
reasonably ask any town to
agree to any plan that involves
the closing of any school without clearly deciding who will
bear which costs.
The conclusion is simple. We,
the district and the towns need
to slow things down enough to
know what we are agreeing to,
or what we are not agreeing to.
We can’t consider a deal if we
don’t know what the deal is.
The article we drafted was
intended to address these
kinds of questions. Those of us
who helped write the article
and signed the petition to get
it on the warrants didn’t think
it was going to pass. Historically, it’s taken at least two years
to make a change to the regional agreement. Our intention
was to change the dialogue and
try to move beyond the current
impasse. If a reporter asked
me what to call our article, my
response: A good start.
of pursuing a strategy that
empowers the legislature to
override what has been a 15year agreement among our
local towns, to force two towns
to close their schools and bus
their children to a consolidated
regional elementary.
In that unlikely scenario,
what would keep the state
from intervening again and
forming a “super-district” and
demanding that we bus our
high school students down
Route 2 to Greenfield?
Sound crazy? There are high
ranking officials and bureaucrats in the Department of
Education who speak favorably
about such a plan.
Most of the time they’re
talking about consolidation at
the administrative level: one
superintendent, say, for five
regional school districts. But
studies are mixed about the
savings produced by this kind
of reorganization. Without local accountability and oversight, any short-term savings
realized are often negated by
the larger salaries and overhead these large, corporatestyle mega-structures are
known to produce.
People are fooling themselves if they think they’re not
going to be affected simply
because their own school is
no longer on the line. These
struggles are taking place
in higher education, too, not
just in primary and secondary
schools. The scale of the problem may be different, but the
main issue — local control — is
the same.
People don’t like to be
treated as if they’re expendable. Nor do they like plans
that fail to consider the strong
SUPERINTENDENT Buoniconti
told The Recorder recently that economic ties and relationschools could be closed without ships between the community
and these sacred learning
unanimous agreement among
the towns if special legislation institutions. Nor do they like
proposals that fail to honor the
is passed, but he hasn’t been
told by the school committee to quality of the education they
deliver. This is what is happenseek such legislation.
ing to the towns facing the loss
I know the superintendent
of their elementary schools.
was just answering a quesWhat kind of school comtion. But is the second part of
munity will we create if we
his answer an indirect way of
asking the school committee to force towns and people into
solutions they are not ready
have him pursue this kind of
for or don’t believe in? It’s a
legislation or referring to conversations that are already tak- dangerous precedent — and a
4
ing place? I know many people slippery slope.
in the district, school commitWhen he is not expressing his
tee members among them,
opinions about the Mohawk
have been very vocal about
wanting the superintendent to school funding crisis or shamelessly promoting the offerings of
do just that. That worries me.
the Heath Elementary School
To those who favor such a
Drama Club, Jonathan Diamond
solution: I would invite you
works as a psychotherapist,
to think about the long- and
short-term consequences
author, and teacher.
page 6 • Shelburne Falls Independent • May 24-June 6, 2007 • www.sfindependent.net
B USINESS AND E CONOMY
B U S I N E S S N E W S C O V E R A G E U N D E RW R I T T E N B Y
Moving forward
with a vision
for the Deerfield
Community refines results
of riverfront charrette
By Michael Wilmeth
michael@sfindependent.net
—————
SHELBURNE FALLS—In
the near future, residents and
visitors to the village will find
nicely produced posters and
pamphlets illustrating a vision
for its riverfront areas.
At first glance they may appear to have come out of some
designer’s imagination — certainly they have the graphic
qualities of a professional design
shop. But the ideas embodied in
the pamphlet and the poster are
those generated by discussion
among more than 100 participants in the UrbanRiver Vision
“charrette,” held March 24.
Those ideas, recorded in many
pages of notes and several annotated maps, have been sorted
and studied and put together
into a clear graphic form by
Goody Clancy, the planning and
architecture firm that led the
charette. David Spillane and
Amy Kohn of Goody Clancy and
Kurt Gaertner of the Executive
Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, the state agency
that oversees the river-focused
project, returned to Shelburne
Falls May 14 to present their
work and to discuss an action
plan to realize the vision that
has been articulated.
About 40 people attended.
Participants in the charrette,
while broken into four groups
during morning and afternoon
sessions and working on different aspects of the village, came
up with many of the same concepts. So while scores of ideas
were brainstormed, a few themes
predominated.
Goody Clancy identified six
goals: redevelop the Lamson &
Goodnow property; connect the
Mahican-Mohawk Trail to the
village center; build an improved
place from which to view the
Potholes; find new uses for the
Mayhew Steel Quonset hut and
• Neuromuscular therapy
• Craniosacral therapy
• Therapeutic massage
5 State Street, Office #7
(Above McCusker’s Market)
Shelburne Falls, MA 01370
(413) 625-2648
cindy@wcpainrelief.com
the Swan Building site; improve
State Street and work on a village center walking trail and/or
a walking map.
Charrette participants showed
great enthusiasm for the potential of both the built-up and the
wooded parts of the Lamson &
Goodnow property. Two members
of the group that may buy the
property, Bill Austin and Joan
Rockwell attended and were
receptive to ideas for the site,
which ranged from residential units and artists’ studios
to a brew pub and a museum.
Spillane seemed to share the
enthusiasm, but at the followup he warned that the plans are
ambitious, and without active
public support could just fade
away.
Recreational uses of the wooded portion of the Lamson &
Goodnow property and adjacent
land owned by National Grid garnered great support at the charrette, but at the May 14 event,
Shelburne resident Rita Jaros
expressed her hope that the land
will remain undeveloped, except
perhaps for walking trails. She
was not alone, also, in wondering who would maintain trails
or other new facilities there.
Buckland resident Cheryl Dukes
was concerned about liability for
any accidents in the area, and
Bill MacLeish of Charlemont
warned against moving too fast
toward any specific plans without
staying in communication with
all the parties involved.
Kohn suggested that in developing a better observation area
for the Glacial Potholes area
of the Deerfield River, thought
should be given to making it a
place for civic events, too, so it
would be used by townspeople
as well as visitors.
Discussion of the Swan Building site on Bridge Street prompted some to wonder what its
owner, Michael Bolio, has in mind
for it.
In 2005, Bolio received approval for his plans to erect a new
building much like the former
Swan Building in appearance,
but since the block was razed
in March 2006 there has been
no sign of activity. Shelburne
resident and village business
owner Kathleen Young suggested forming a committee to
investigate buying the land and
raising funds for that purpose
if Bolio’s plans for the site have
changed.
Charrette participants considered how to promote the success
of State Street businesses and
enhance the street’s connection
to the Bridge Street shopping
district. Spillane pointed out
that repairs planned for the
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Deerfield River as a community resource and revitalizing resources along its waterfront.
street offer an opportunity to
make streetscape improvements
efficiently, while the work is in
progress.
Charlemont resident Gisela
Walker brought up the power
lines that crisscross the street,
which she described as “appalling,” and suggested burying
them as part of the project. Buckland Town Hall volunteer Caleb
Dean said it might be worthwhile
to establish a “permanent bus
stop” on State Street, because
there is grant money is available
for streetscape projects within a
quarter mile of such spots. Brock
Cutting of the Ashfield landscape architecture firm Dodson
Associates noted that iron lamp
posts installed several years ago
were designed to accommodate
interpretive plaques and banners, so introducing those elements to State Street would be
straightforward.
Kohn and Spillane took corrections and additions to incorporate into the final version of
the map of the village they will
produce, from the spelling of
“Mahican-Mohawk Trail” to the
importance of including handicapped access in plans for the
Potholes observation area.
When work is completed,
the poster and pamphlet that
result will serve to summarize
community thinking on the riverfront area and can be used as
a marketing tool and supporting
document in seeking funding for
village projects.
State aid coming for April damage
BOSTON—Governor Deval
Patrick announced May 16 that
federal disaster aid is on tap
for eight Massachusetts counties most severely impacted by
the April nor’easter, including
Franklin County. This Public
Assistance program will provide
aid for much of the storm-related
damage of April 15-19 in Essex,
Plymouth, Barnstable, Dukes,
Franklin, Hampshire, Hampden
and Berkshire counties.
“Communities across the
state were hurt by this storm
and I appreciate the federal
government’s quick response to
my request for a disaster declaration,” Patrick said. “This declaration will help our communities
-- whose budgets are already
stretched thin -- deal with the
financial impact.”
Preliminary damage estimates
exceeded $10 million with the
most severe damage to public
roadways, bridges, seawalls and
revetments.
Under the PA program, affected local governments, state
agencies and many private nonprofit organizations are eligible
to apply for federal funds to
be reimbursed for 75 percent
of the approved cost of debris
removal, emergency services
related to the disaster and repairing, replacing or restoring
damaged public facilities, such
NEW BUSINESSES
Patlin Enterprises
launches new product
Have ice cream,
will travel
HAWLEY—Patlin Enterprises,
Inc. has introduced a new panelizing home system, Homes by Nicole, the brainchild of Steve and
Leslie Patlin and their daughter,
Nicole Patlin Miller.
The panelized system offers
homes preassembled with house
wrap and windows installed. Panels are manufactured on laserassisted tables in a controlled
factory environment.
According to Leslie Patlin,
the Homes by Nicole system
provides “a superior housing
solution that combines the quality of the best custom stick-built
home with the affordability of a
modular.”
The company says that the
Homes by Nicole system differs
from modular systems in that it
does not suffer from the flexing
and deterioration that takes
place when a finished home is
transported and set by crane.
”It is quicker, more efficient
and more ecologically sound
than stick building, with little
or no theft or deterioration from
the elements,” Patlin said.
The first home using the new
system was assembled in Greenfield May 22.
The local family-owned company has sold more than 1,000
homes in New England in the
last 22 years as representatives
for Lincoln Logs and Barden
Homes.
For more information, call
Patlin Enterprises at (413) 3395773 or visit www.patlinenterprises.
com.
PLAINFIELD—Next time you
have the urge to go out for ice
cream, you might think instead
about ordering in -- if you’ve got
a crowd and an event.
Winton Pitcoff has launched
Hilltown Ice Cream, a product he
manufactures at a rented facility
in Greenfield and sells from an
ice cream truck.
Hilltown Ice Cream rotates 19
flavors of ice cream and sorbet
(including “mud season”) and
offers cones, sundaes and drinks.
The truck made its first public
appearance in Cummington
at the recent Hilltown Spring
Festival.
“Despite the rain and 50degree weather, we sold more
than 150 ice creams and got rave
reviews,” said Pitcoff, who will
bring the truck to Shelburne
Falls for Riverfest June 9.
“My goal is to hire out the
truck for events: birthday parties, company picnics, summer camps, school graduations,
church events, nonprofit functions, fairs,” says Pitcoff, a writer
and consultant to nonprofit
organizations whose eclectic
interests include farming, timber
framing and animal husbandry.
For more information, call
Pitcoff at (413) 634-5728 or send
e-mail to info@hilltownicecream.
com.
as roads, buildings and utilities.
All West County towns except
Shelburne declared a state of
emergency following the storm,
which caused damage in the
hundreds of thousands of dollars
in the region.
Procedures for requesting the
assistance will be explained at
a series of applicant briefings
for local officials at locations to
be announced soon by the Mas-
sachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) and the
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). These
briefings will explain the reimbursement process for receiving federal money for eligible
expenses incurred by state and
local governments, as well as
eligible nonprofit organizations
for infrastructure damage and
eligible overtime costs.
SFABA seeks sponsors
for annual Bridge Dinner
SHELBURNE FALLS—Plans
are well under way for the 7th
Annual Iron Bridge Dinner Aug.
19, hosted by the Shelburne
Falls Area Business Association
(SFABA).
Local restaurants and food
providers will again prepare an
elegant, one-of-a-kind dinner for
400 people on the Iron Bridge
spanning the Deerfield River
at sunset. Mohawk Athletic Association (MAA) high school
athletes will again serve the
meal and local musicians will
serenade diners.
Tickets historically sell out
quickly at $28/person in support
of the Mary Lyon Education
Foundation, the Mohawk Athletic Association and SFABA programs. A hat is also traditionally
passed at the end of the evening
which, coupled with their portion of ticket revenues, usually
provides the student athletes
more than $1,000 for programs.
Businesses can sponsor the
dinner at three levels: White
Orchid ($1,000), Blue Iris ($500)
and Sunflower ($250).
Benefits vary depending on
the level of sponsorship, but
include:
• One, two or four free tickets
depending upon the generosity
of your gift.
• A flower bouquet presented
at the event indicating your level
of sponsorship.
• Your business name on a
Bridge Dinner banner placed
by the Iron Bridge prior to the
Put on your life jacket
BOSTON—Established by the
United States Coast Guard Auxiliary, the purpose of National Safe
Boating Week is to highlight and
initiate year-round efforts to promote safe boating practices. To
encourage the use of life jackets,
the North America Safe Boating Campaign has adopted the
theme of “Wear It” for this year’s
Safe Boating Week, May 19-25.
The state senate has endorsed
a resolution asking residents of
the Commonwealth to wear life
jackets while boating.
For more information on either
the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary or
the North America Safe Boating
Campaign, visit nws.cgaux.org or
www.safeboatingcampaign.net.
event.
• Your business name on
formal invitations and menus
received by each of the 400
guests.
• Your business name on at
least two print advertisements
in local newspapers.
• Your business name in
all news releases sent to area
media.
• Your business name in a special event posting on the SFABA
Web site.
• Your business name in the
SFABA business bulletins sent to
more than 300 SFABA members
and contacts as well as additional
copies distributed widely.
If you are interested in being
a sponsor, contact SFABA Executive Director Art Schwenger at
(413) 625-2526 or art@shelburnefalls.com by Wednesday, May 20.
Kids to Camp Golf
Tournament Monday,
July 16
GREENFIELD—Registration
forms are now available for
the 2007 YMCA Kids to Camp
Golf Tournament Monday, July
16, with an 11:45 a.m. shotgun
start.
Dinner and auction follow
later air-conditioned comfort at
Bill’s Restaurant. There will be
free showers at the YMCA from
3-6 p.m.
Proceeds help provide more
than100 low-income children two
weeks of YMCA day camps.
The YMCA offers sports and
gymnastic camps as well as
Camps Allen and Apex.
The tournament fee is $90 for
golf, cart, lunch and dinner.
C a l l S t eve R oy a t ( 4 1 3 )
773-3646, ext. 440 for more
information.
Clean energy survey
GREENFIELD—Creators of
the Pioneer Valley Clean Energy
Plan are seeking comments and
support. Take a 15- or one-minute
survey at www.surveymonkey.com/s.
asp?u=237433753357.
Shelburne Falls Independent • May 24-June 6, 2007 • www.sfindependent.net • page 7
Shop girls
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _from front page
ing welding; sophomore Jamie
Clark of Buckland, an auto body
student and junior Lisa Ward of
Colrain, a carpentry student.
They spoke with remarkable
candor and clarity about their
studies, their classmates and
where they’re going.
The young women have chosen
their courses of study after having a look at the 14 vocational
programs offered at the Tech
School in ninth grade.
“Our freshmen spend their
first half year exploring our technical programs on an every-otherweek basis,” explains Principal
Paul Cohen. “Our students are
in academics one week, followed
by shop the next week. They first
visit all 14 of our programs, and
then focus in on four of their own
selection.”
“We always encourage them to
take a risk and choose one nontraditional shop out of that group
of four,” Cohen continued. “Consequently, a substantial number
of girls are currently in technical
programs that have been more
typically populated by boys. As
a school we’re very proud of the
level of support we provide our
students who choose ‘different’
or nontraditional paths and, as a
result, we have cultivated a very
special school climate here that
is positive, inclusive, respectful
and caring.”
So what brought these West
County girls to shop talk?
“I liked the carpentry because
if you’re good in a shop like that
you’ll be noticed more and if
you’re in cosmo [cosmetology]
and you’re good at that stuff,
you don’t get noticed as much,
because you’re just another girl,”
explained Ward, adding that
when she says being “noticed,”
she means “by everybody; the
people in your school and out of
school in your town.”
During her first two years
studying carpentry, Ward made
a corner cabinet and other classmates built rocking chairs. Now,
in the final two years of her
study, she’s helping to build a
Habitat for Humanity house in
Turners Falls.
Which kind of carpentry does
she prefer?
“It all depends what place
you are in the house,” Ward says.
“Putting the shingles on the roof
is pretty cool, but you can make
cool stuff in shop, too.”
As to the power tools involved
in the trade she’s studying, Ward,
whose uncle Kenny is and grandfather was in the carpentry
trade, she “can handle ’em.”
And she says that she’ll “definitely” continue in the field.
“It’s been in my family for a
while,” she says.
Clark says that she chose auto
body shop, where she works on
cars detailing paint, pulling out
dents and replacing parts and
metal framework, because “I
really like cars and thought it
would be really cool.”
She drives her dad’s Subaru,
but her dream car is a Dodge
Viper “’cause they look really
awesome and they go really fast;
I just really like them.”
Clark says all of her study is
challenging, “but once you get
used to doing a lot of stuff, it’s
Lisa Ward works in the wood shop.
are; if you are going into a shop
full of guys and you’re going to
take all their teasing personally,
then it’s not for you, but if you
can take a joke and give it back
a little bit, then it’s okay,” says
Coburn.
“Guys can be threatened by
the girls’ presence and it’s breaking the stereotypical roles,” Cohen interjects. “And that’s what
we do so well here.”
The group agrees that when
they chose to go to non-traditional classes, they expected some
reaction.
“When I was a freshman my
dad told me he didn’t want me
going into any shop because I
was a girl, and I did go into welding and I was teased,” Decker
says. “They said, ‘You’re such a
girl.’ But you just have to be good
at what you’re doing and outdo
them.”
And now, she says, “my Dad
will go to work and talk about
how I did this and that and he
brags about me to his buddies.”
Ward notes that female students have to be in the class for
the right reason, or suffer some
consequences.
“If you’re there to pick up
guys, then you’re going to get
picked on,” she says.
Coburn, who competed at
districts this year and was the
only female in the room testing,
sums up her thoughts on working
with a shop full of guys: “Working with guys is a lot easier than
working with girls,” she says.
“I like asking the guys for
DR. ROBERT SIDORSKY
VETERINARIAN
help,” says Howe, who also competed at districts. “They can give
a lot of good advice when you
don’t know how to do something.
And I think that the guys — over
half of them — respect you as
you can prove yourself.”
Howe’s father is a welder also.
“I think my dad’s proud of me,”
she says, “especially when I can
do some stuff that he can’t do.”
“I think there’s a lot less
drama in the shops where there
are more guys,” says Howe.
“They’re more relaxed and not
so uptight and don’t take everything personally.”
“I do agree in a sense that
there’s a lot less drama, but I
notice in my shop that the guys
do tend to know how to get the
girls angry and cause drama,”
adds Williams.
As to how other female students in other courses of study
treat the shop girls, some say
that the other girls diminish
them, accusing them of choosing
shop because they wanted attention. Other girls say that they
feel the other students respect
them more.
“We’re doing something
that they obviously can’t,” says
Ward.
“That breaks the mold,” Coburn adds.
For sure these girls don’t
mind getting their hands dirty,
right?
“No, but it’s not like we don’t
like getting pretty, though,” says
Ward, smiling. “I like getting
dressed up.”
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“That’s a big field,” Cohen
says. “Desiree, you’d make a ton
of money if you do that.”
Williams chose her shop purely for academic reasons.
“I didn’t really choose my
shop based on what I knew,” she
says. “I moreso chose it because
I wasn’t a fan of math and it
seemed like the shop with the
least amount of math involved.
It seemed interesting.”
Wa s s h e c o r re c t i n t h a t
assumption?
“Yes, I was right; there’s a
little measuring and the mixing
of paint, but not a lot of math,”
she says.
Williams and the other auto
body shop girls explain that their
shop isn’t the kind that studies
engines — they do real work on
real cars.
“We do have cars come in
from outside the school, but a
lot are teachers and faculty and
some students bring in theirs
and we work on those,” she says,
explaining that as freshmen
and sophomores they work on
one project, such as a fender,
which can be smoothed out by
pulling, hammering the dent
out, or filling the dent with body
filler, then through sanding and
“featherage,” which is rubbing
Jamie Clark (left)
or smoothing the filler into the
and Cassie Williams
metal.
(below) sand a
Beausoleil, a woman of few
trailer in the auto
words, says that she decided
body shop.
to study auto body “because I
wanted to learn something new.”
She likes sanding the best, “because it’s easy.”
Coburn chose HVAC because
she “wanted a shop that was
active and something involved
using your hands.”
She likes the heating aspect
of her study better than the airconditioning part, but each is
related to the other.
“Understanding it is easy,”
she says. “If the installation
of the components you use for
air is backwards, if you put a
window air conditioning unit in
backwards, it would be a heating
unit,” she says.
She’s looking forward to senior
year when students are permitted to take on cooperative jobs,
and many study by working at
Deerfield Valley Heating and
Cooling.
Howe chose a welding course
“because I like working with
my hands and trying to figure
out a problem, either making
something or fixing it.”
For her the challenge is that “I
try to make everything perfect,
and I guess not all the time it has
to be.”
Does she mind all the safety
equipment that goes along with
metal, fire and sparks?
“I don’t like wearing safety
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ from front page goggles because they’re hard to
see through, you have to get close
up,” she says. “But the rest of the
DOE could mandate what the would reduce the number of staff to study the consolidation issue. protective equipment is good; it’s
fiscal year 2008 budget would layoffs.”
He also stressed that there was [all] there for a reason.”
be.
“no hidden agenda or backdoor
Task force reauthorized
Shattering stereotypes
“If they think that there’s an
mechanism” implied with the
impasse and we’re just not going
During the school committee request.
And then there are the shop
to reach an agreement,” he said, meeting it was agreed to form an
In the last minutes of the meet- guys: “They keep us enter“they can make their decision as “elementary school restructur- ing, committee members agreed tained,” Ward says dryly.
early as September.”
ing task force” to further study to a suggestion from Shelburne
Cohen notes that the percentDuring the MTRSD school the issue of school closures. representative Andrew Baker age of women in non-traditional
committee meeting of May 16, Speaking to the issue, Colrain regarding the nine-year-old Com- courses is “just improving” with
Buoniconti said that he was representative Dave Purington munity Health Center, which about one-third the school’s
preparing “a fallback position, suggested that the five-member operates in the high school.
women now studying in those
ready to go” in the event that panel, as yet to be named, have
Baker asked that the annual fields.
Are the girls teased?
the proposed budget is defeated. a “sunset date” of one year.
contract with the facility contain
“I think you get more teasing
Having received advice from
Purington noted that two “a calendar of review, a date
DOE officials, he said, he was towns have voted down a pro- that triggers a report.” Center in the community than in the
planning a secondary budget posed change in the regional officials had not provided the school, I think that the comwith a 2½ percent increase over agreement that would have pro- school with a report since 2003, munity isn’t as understanding,”
this year’s budget that would vided the school committee with according to School Committee says Howe, who spends summers
require $350,000 in additional the authority to close a school. Chairwoman Peggy Hart.
working in a salvage yard. “I
On April 25, the school panel, work in Worcester most of the
reductions.
“I think the reality is...that it’s
Buoniconti said that if fur- dead in the water,” he said, re- in a weighted 54-43 vote, agreed summer, and a lot of a guys say,
ther cuts are to be made, bud- garding the proposal. He strongly to renew the health center con- ‘What’s a girl doing this kind of
work for?’”
get planners “are looking as suggested that the task force tract to June 2008.
much as possible at options that should be given a wide latitude
“I think it’s the type of girl you
Mohawk
kind of easy.”
Decker, who competed this
year in welding competitions
through the SkillsUSA program,
placed second in the district.
“At districts there were seven
people competing and four were
girls and all four were from
[Franklin County] Tech,” she says
proudly.
Decker chose welding because
she likes staying active.
“When went through exploratory, welding was the shop I
was most active in and when I
was a freshman I really liked
being active,” she says. “We do
a lot of different things. We’ve
done things for trailers — one
student tore out the inside of
one and redid it. We do some
arts and craftsy things, and last
year I made a hanging pot rack
for Chef Pike [one of the school’s
culinary arts teachers]. I like it
all, I like arts and craftsy stuff,
but I also like taking a break now
and then and doing something
that’s not so artistic.”
When Decker remarks that
she is “thinking of focusing on
an underwater welding career,”
repairing boats and bridges, her
principal approves.
page 8 • Shelburne Falls Independent • May 24-June 6, 2007 • www.sfindependent.net
Rowe residents approve
$3 million budget
$1.1 million capital account okayed
Golconda: [From Golconda, an
ancient city of India, famed for
diamond-cutting.] A mine or
source of wealth.
—The New Century Dictionary
By Don Stewart
don@sfindependent.net
—————
ROWE—In less than three
hours on the evening of May 14
residents at Rowe’s annual town
meeting approved $3,088,000
in municipal expenses for the
coming fiscal year in a community where virtually 92 cents of
every tax dollar is paid for by
an electrical utility. Indeed, the
tax rate of this village of 406
residents is not only the envy
of surrounding hilltowns and
the greater Commonwealth, it
may well provoke the jealousy
of much of New England.
When the evening’s discussion
turned to a possible override of
the existing 2½-percent tax cap,
Board of Assessors Chairman
Rick Williams spoke. He reaffirmed that the financial largesse
provided by the Bear Swamp
electrical generation plant kept
Rowe’s economy strong, provid-
ing it with the fifth-lowest tax
rate in the state and the lowest
average tax bill ($780) for single
families in Massachusetts. Williams took exception to a recent
newspaper editorial suggesting
that, with the early 1990s closure of Yankee Rowe, the community’s finances are spiraling
downward.
Facts were to the contrary, he
said, noting that homeowners
last year paid $4.11 per $1,000
of valuation on their homes.
“That’s not unlike what it was
when Yankee Rowe and Bear
Swamp first came in. . . I just
want to get the point across:
we’re not in dire straits,” Williams said.
Selectman Susan Wood expressed concern, however, that if
utility taxes were to ever vanish
“each taxpayer would be paying
$10,000 a year at least” to maintain the present budget.
“Obviously that’s ‘the sky is
falling’ scenario,” Williams said,
adding that drastic changes
would then have to be undertaken. “But that’s a ‘What if? What
if?’ way-out-there scenario.”
Noting that the average tax
On
The House
Builders
bill for a $189,000 home in fiscal year 2007 was $780, Finance
Committee Chairman Bill Loomis
noted that similar homeowners
in adjacent towns were paying on
average more than $3,000 annually and that the state average
was $3,700.
“We’re just such a fortunate
town,” he told residents. “Yes, we
probably are in a high echelon
of expense per capita, but we’re
fortunate. We’re lucky.”
Planning through 2028
During the annual town meeting more than 75 attendees overwhelmingly agreed to reduce
Rowe’s $2.2 million stabilization
fund by half in order to finance a
newly created municipal capital
stabilization fund. Voters also
agreed, 99-89, to a Proposition
2½ tax cap override in order to
add $150,000 more to the $1.1
million fund. The fund is specifically dedicated to the maintenance, repair and upgrading of
town buildings, equipment and
vehicles.
Town meeting voters balked,
however, in another override to
raise an additional $100,000 for
625-9914
Renovating West County
since the last century
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Insured
the town’s stabilization fund.
This effectively means that the
fiscal year 2008 budget is $95,000
out of balance, requiring either
budget trimming or a future
special town meeting.
During a phone conversation
after the meeting Selectmen’s
Chairman Myra Carlow said
that the capital fund is “a way
to keep the operating budgets
at a level where there would be
modest increases that they could
continue to fund [within] 2½
percent [annual increases].”
The capitalization plan, which
anticipates costs for the next 20
years, is still a work in progress.
Cataloguing everything from the
town’s 30-year-old, $3,000 swing
set to its $150,000, four-year-old
dump truck and sander, Carlow
factored in an annual 3 percent
inflation rate.
“We looked at every item,”
she said. “How old is it? What’s
its useful life and when would it
have to be replaced?”
Nevertheless, the $1.1 million
would be “eaten up” in eight
years, she estimated, unless
the fund received an additional
$150,000 annually. The override
brings the town’s estimated fiscal year 2008 rate to $4.46 per
$1,000 of valuation.
“We can’t raise it,” Moderator
Bob Clancy said in agreement,
“even in the light of our last
town meeting, when town counsel was present.”
(In 2006 attendees agreed to a
motion to increase expenditures
for the town’s Old Home Day,
which this year will cost $5,000
for fireworks and $4,000 for the
celebration.)
“The motion to amend is
moot,” Clancy said.
Resident Leonard Laffond
asked why town counsel no
longer attended town meetings.
To his recollection, the town’s
lawyer has been present for the
past 35 years.
It was then explained that
finance committee members
had complained about the onsite
cost and that attorneys from the
town’s legal arm, Kopelman &
Paige, had offered to respond to
issues by phone at no cost.
Resident and town nurse Ruth
Loomis asked why town counsel
could agree to a budget line
increase the previous year “and
this year do a ‘180’?”
“I’m at a loss myself,” Clancy
said.
Former Selectman Jack Williams said that “it’s been a practice that articles are drawn [with
the phrase] ‘the following sum
or any other sum,’ so the sum is
determined by town meeting.”
Referring to town meeting as
“the purest form of democracy,”
he asked that selectmen pursue
the issue with either DOR or
town counsel “so there’s not
some artificial restriction that
is placed on the voters.”
Precedent and the MGLs
During discussion of an article pertaining to public health
and sanitation, resident Judy
Pierce asked that a motion be
considered to raise a budget item
by $1,345. Carlow noted that the
legal opinion from Joe Boudreau,
a state Department of Revenue
(DOR) official , was that financial
Markings
requests cannot be increased on
town meeting floor, as is clear in
Citing the rapid rate of declinMass. General Law.
ing student enrollment in West
County, resident Doug Wilson
asked school committee members whether there had been any
recent discussion as to the Rowe
School merging with the Heath
School or vice versa.
School Committee Chairman
Maggie Rice said that her board
received a letter from the Heath
town officials some five months
previously, but had received no
communication from members
of the Heath School Committee
or from Mohawk Trail Regional School District Committee
members.
“So right now it’s sitting
there,” Rice said.
Carlow said that there had
been communication between
selectmen of the two towns “to
at least have a conversation.”
“We, the select board, at least
want to see if there’s any possibility that the two towns can
work on something together,”
she said.
In the final minutes of the
meeting, as the number of attendees dwindled to 38 residents, Robert Essert introduced
a citizens’ petition, non-binding
article asking members of the
House of Representatives to
investigate impeachment of
President George Bush and Vice
President Dick Cheney. The article passed by an apparent 2:1
vote.
Residents agreed to take
no action on two financial articles until more information is
available. The first regarded an
amount of $10,000 for maintenance and repair of Gracy House.
The second involved authorizing
a $3,500 revolving fund for vaccine services.
Rowe elects Brown to Board of Selectmen
ROWE—Sixty-eight percent
of the town’s 287 registered voters turned out at the polls May
19 to elect a long slate of town
officials, including James Brown
for a new term as selectman.
Brown, who will fill a seat
that has been vacant, beat out
contenders Albert Williams
(54 votes), Frederick Williams
(2 votes) and John Packard (2
votes) for a three-year term
with 127 votes. Brown served as
selectman several years ago.
Russell Jolly will return as
a Park Commissioner, having
unseated incumbent Michael
Laffond, 114–80.
Voters also agreed to be as-
sessed an added $150,000 in real
estate and personal property
taxes in order to fund a new
town capital stabilization fund
to pay for future needs in a vote
of 99–89. [See related story.]
Also elected are:
• Board of Assessors — three
years — incumbent Heidi Cousineau — 167 votes.
• Board of Health — three
years — Daniel Poplawski — 103
votes.
• Cemetery Commission —
three years — incumbent James
Williams — 180 votes.
• Finance Committee — three
years — David Dvore — 54
votes.
• Library Trustee — three
years — Melissa Quinn — 168
votes.
• Moderator — three years —
incumbent Robert Clancy — 126
votes.
• Park Comissioner — three
years — Russell Jolly — 114
votes.
• Planning Board — five years
— Rosie Gordon — 25 votes.
• Rowe School District Committee — three years — Rebecca
Richardson — 157 votes.
• Tax Collector — three years
— incumbent Sandra Daviau —
176 votes.
• Treasurer — three years —
Heidi Cousineau — 175 votes.
AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY
Relay For Life of Franklin County
T
he American Cancer Society Relay For Life of
Franklin County is a community event where everyone can join together to remember loved ones,
inspire others, and celebrate life. It’s your chance to
make a difference in the fight against cancer by walking overnight to raise much needed funds for research,
education, advocacy, and services.
June 8 & 9, 2007
6 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Franklin County Fairgrounds,
Greenfield
For more information visit
www.acsevents.org/relay/MAFranklincounty or call 1.800.ACS.2345
Join us to find out how you can make a difference!
THIS AD PUBLISHED AT NO COST TO THE AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY AND IS DONATED IN MEMORY OF, OR IN HONOR OF, WEST COUNTY RESIDENTS AND THEIR RELATIVES AND FRIENDS WHOSE LIVES HAVE BEEN TOUCHED BY CANCER.
life
H I L L T O W N
Shelburne Falls Independent
page 9 • May 24-June 6, 2007 • www.sfindependent.net
ACTIVITIES
SPORTS & RECREATION
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
BOOKS & WRITERS
FOOD & DRINK
SCIENCE & NATURE
TRANSITIONS
CALENDAR
John Hoffman
discusses Community
Supported Agriculture
in Wilder Brook
Farm’s greenhouse.
Sharing
the
Bounty
Community Supported Agriculture
offers members a relationship
with the source of their food
CHARLEMONT—Starting
a small farm is an act of faith.
Anyone undertaking this project
is essentially ignoring economic
axioms that have led this country
through many decades — with
plenty of good results yet with
almost nothing save bad results
for small farmers.
Small farms completely tune
out the drumbeat of mainstream
economics: Bigger is better! You
must ship! In bulk! Foreign food
is cheaper! People don’t care about
agriculture anymore! Nonetheless, and perhaps because of
their faith, plenty of small farms
succeed. Of those that do, one
business model is becoming
increasingly widespread as each
season begins.
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) first emerged and
took root in America in the mid1980s, by most accounts in the
southern Berkshire County town
of Egremont, at a place called
Indian Line Farm. One of the
founders of the farm described
Hoffman
and Stella in
the fields.
Story and photos
by Max Breiteneicher
CSA as a combination of the
ideas of two thinkers, Rudolph
Steiner and E.F. Schumacher.
Steiner was, among many
other things, the founder of biodynamic agriculture, an organic
farming system that predates
“organics” and is still widely
practiced in the United States.
One of Steiner’s agricultural concepts is a relationship between
producer and consumer who are
united by their mutual interests.
Schumacher was an economist
who believed that it is most beneficial to develop an economy in
which what is produced locally is
also consumed locally. The CSA
farm was the confluence of these
two concepts.
How it works
A CSA farm, ideally, works
like this: in the spring members
of the community buy a “share”
of the upcoming season’s harvest
and become the farm’s members.
The price of a share varies, depending on how many people are
expected to buy shares, and the
size and nature of the farm.
Throughout the season, usually once a week, members come
to the farm or to a drop-off point
(some farms even deliver) and
pick up their shares of whatever was harvested that week.
Members get fresh-picked, local
vegetables and other produce
every week and they don’t have
to worry about shopping. The
farm gets its costs covered up
front, and the farmer needn’t
worry over finding outlets for
his or her produce and thus can
focus on growing the food.
Beyond these benefits, members and farmers are united in
the sense of community this
relationship creates. By their
contributions, members ensure
that the farm is successful that
year, thereby preserving farmland and supporting their local
economy. Other than fresh food,
members get to be part of a local farm. Hence the “community
supported.”
There are more than a few
CSAs around the hilltowns. One
of the first, and still the only
one in Charlemont, is Wilder
Brook Farm, which consists of
100 acres of wooded hillsides
and a few acres of fields far up
West Oxbow Road, long after the
paving stops.
John Hoffman runs the farm
with his partner, Kate Stevens.
continued on page 12
page 10 • Shelburne Falls Independent • May 24-June 6, 2007 • www.sfindependent.net
F OOD AND D RINK
New Falls restaurant: a rare find
Celebrating the arrival of Gypsy Apple Bistro, a brand-new original
SHELBURNE FALLS
“Gypsy Apple” has an odd ring to
it, and I’d been curious
for a month before I ventured
back inside the restaurant
that I’d learned to love as the
more practically named Bridge
Street Café. Though Shelburne
Falls has been rich with restaurants, the loss of Bridge Street
(and before that of Bottle of
Bread) left a tremendous hole,
and this oddly named new
arrival with candles and silver
gleaming from white tablecloths beneath a funky sign
seemed an unlikely candidate
to fill the dinner gap.
Having tried it, one word:
Hallelujah.
We had a reservation for
two for dinner on a Sunday
and arrived to find only two
other couples seated. As it was
a slower night (Saturdays, I’ve
noticed, have been packed) we
were offered the window table
and watched the light fade on
the Greenfield Savings Bank
as we sipped a Zinfandel from
California and a Cabernet Sauvignon from South Africa and
waited for our appetizers.
The wine list offers three
whites and three reds by the
glass (one of which, a merlot
from Chile, wasn’t available
that night), and about 10
reds and whites by the bottle.
A modest list, if you like to
sample, but the two we tasted
were delightful at the price —
fruit driven but solidly structured, each possessing a nice
backbone of acidity to whet
T
HE NAME
2. Expect intimacy. The
tables are very close together,
and any conversation can be
public conversation. Save your
impeachment plotting for another time.
3. Make a reservation. We
were there on a slow night,
and by 7:30 it was mostly full.
Other nights, I’m told, it’s hard
to get a table.
Welcome the spring. Walk
barefoot in the grass. Swim in
the river early and often (but
watch out for beavers) and get
thee to the Gypsy Apple.
RESTAURANT
R E V IEW
By Abe Loomis
the appetite.
The atmosphere was unassuming and friendly. We felt
immediately welcome and,
as dusk fell on the street, our
little table took on an intimacy
that was as much due to the
down-to-earth professionalism of our waitress as to the
warm colors and the tastefully
chosen art on the walls. As she
described the catch of the day,
salmon “finished with a key
lime and champagne beurre
blanc,” she seemed to share
our amusement at the fanciness of it, and yet also to be
enjoying, as we were, the novelty. Our dinner music was The
Cure, played softly but audibly,
and somehow that too seemed
to fit.
The crab cakes and the mussels arrived first, and I started
with the latter, which were
consistently tender and sweet
and came piled in a delicious,
lemon-tinted wine sauce pleasantly complicated by garlic,
fennel and saffron. The crab
cakes were also delightful:
wonderfully delicate, smooth
and spicy, with tiny nuggets of
crisp, chopped celery adding a
savory crunch.
Next came the filet mignon
and the salmon — floating on
a bed of light, peppery risotto
larded with lobster and scallops — and I have never, ever
tasted salmon like that. To say
• Eyeglasses
that it was the most perfect
• Eye Exams
fish I have ever experienced
would be extravagant, but also
• Contact Lenses
• Industrial Protective accurate. The word “fluffy”
comes to mind.
Eyewear
The beef was also outstanding, drizzled with a true veal
demi-glaze (reduced from 80
quarts to six over two days
of cooking) and generously
Stop squinting!
P R O T E C T Y O U R E Y E S topped with oyster mushrooms,
Come in and choose shiitakes and black trumpets.
I asked for rare, and I got rare
from a vast array
of sunglasses
so rare that it put me in mind
of Berkeley, California’s “Rare
Man,” a beloved local character who walks from bar to bar
“For People Who Value Their Vision” on Telegraph Avenue opening
doors and shouting “Rare!” to
27 Bridge St., Shelburne Falls delighted mobs of drunken college students who roar back, in
unison: “RARE!” He’s real, I’ve
413-625-9898
met him, and it was that rare.
Specializing in cabinetry
built for a healthy lifestyle
Minimizing the use of toxic materials and finishes
• Kitchen cabinets • Media cabinets • Built-ins • Furniture
27 Rand Rd., Shelburne Falls
(413) 625-6063
www.jimpicardi.com
John W. Richardson
attorney
32 Bridge Street • Shelburne Falls, MA 01370
413-625-6637 • fax: 413-625-6286 • jwr@crocker.com
25-plus years of experience
House calls for the elderly and homebound
• Real Estate • Elder Issues • Estate Settlement
• Wills and General Consultations
M k Z ] b m b h g Z e
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413-743-5430  413-743-7110
www.potterhomebuilders.com
One version of a dinner for two
(menu changes monthly): Glass
of Bocce Zinfandel, $5; glass of
Fairvalley Cabernet Sauvignon,
$5; mussels, $8; crab cakes, $9;
filet mignon, $23; salmon, $24;
crème caramel, $4; coffee, $1.50.
The Gypsy Apple Bistro (named
for the colorful moniker coowner Ami Aubin’s grandmother
gave to pomegranates) is open
5-8:30 p.m. every night but MonPhoto/Abe Loomis
day for dinner; Tuesday-Friday,
Jim Dion and Michaelangelo Wescott working magic at the Gypsy Apple. Of their new restaurant, 11 a.m.-2:30 p.m. for lunch and
Wescott says, “I like to think of it as a lot of Paris with a touch of the Harlem Renaissance.”
Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m.-2
something of a challenge to
ly dressed, and then two cups
Crisp asparagus spears,
p.m. for brunch. Dinner entrees
of coffee and a crème caramel, this philistine. Maybe I wasn’t
delicately sautéed and salted,
range from $18-$24, while lunchsupposed to.
which, although it could have
provided a nice counterpoint,
es are generally less than $10. If
Final thoughts:
been a bit lighter in texture
and a pinnacle of garlicky
you’re lucky, you’ll get a chance
1. Give yourself enough time. to chat with Susanne Hynes,
(more like the salmon, permashed potatoes rounded out
The food is worth savoring
haps), was very good. Eating
the dish.
formerly of Bottle of Bread, who
and the staff gives you time to is waiting tables with her usual
the decoratively sliced strawWe finished with a simple,
enjoy it.
refreshing green salad, expert- berry on top, however, proved
energy and charm. Bon apetit!
A RTS AND L ETTERS
Mohawk Trail Concerts sets summer schedule
CHARLEMONT—The 38th
summer season of Mohawk
Trail Concerts (MTC) strikes
an opening chord with “Double
Delights,” a benefit house concert featuring piano duo Anne
Koscielny and Estela Olevsky
Sunday, June 10 at 3 p.m. at 68
Avery Road in Heath.
The concert will take place
at Koscielny’s studio with its
two Steinway grand pianos. The
program will include solos from
each artist, and, for two pianos,
Mozart’s charming, rarely heard
Sonata in D. K.488 and the engaging Scaramouche Suite by
Milhaud. The concert will be
followed by champagne and hors
d’oeuvres.
Reservation donations of
$50 per person can be made by
phone with credit card or check
mailed to the office: P.O. Box 75,
Shelburne Falls, MA 01370 or by
calling (413) 625-9511. Please
reserve early since indoor seating is limited.
This season at MTC brings a
host of masterpieces by Bach,
Mozart, Brahms and Schumann
performed by renowned musicians and artists of promise
early in their careers along with
compositions by Fellows of the
MacDowell Colony, which this
year celebrates its centennial,
and by William Bolcom, 2006
recipient of the National Medal
of the Arts.
Noted this year are the 125th
anniversary of Stravinsky’s birth
and the 100th of the death of
Edvard Grieg.
Concerts are performed in the
Federated Church Charlemont
five weekends (June 29–July
28), Fridays at 7:30 p.m. and
Saturdays at 8 p.m.
June 29 and 30
Gilbert Kalish, piano, Violaine
Melançon, violin, and Laura
Klock on horn open the season
with the two great horn trios,
Brahms, Op. 40 and Ligeti, Hommage à Brahms (1982). A prelude
of piano pieces by Edward Mac-
Dowell and Bach’s d minor cha- letter from Iraq, as well as more
conne BWV 1004 for solo violin American compositions, Grieg,
complete the program.
and the Soliloquy from Carousel
by Rodgers and Hammerstein.
July 6 and 7
Pianists Estela Olevsky and
Bruce Adolphe brings soprano Anne Koscielny explore a wide
Lauren Skuce to sing his setting chronological range of fourhand
of Native American poetry Wind piano repertoire from Mozart,
across the Sky with piano trio Grieg and Barber to contempoHarumi Rhodes, violin, Michael rary Kurtag.
Kannen, cello and Marija Stroke,
July 20 and 21
piano. The program includes
Dushkin’s arrangement for violin
William Bolcom and Joan
of the “Berceuse-Lullaby” from Morris return with their beloved
Stravinsky’s Firebird, the Brahms annual “Anthology of American
Trio Op. 87, and for an audi- Theater Song,” which will be preence treat, some of Adolphe’s ceded by guests the Da Camera
Piano Puzzlers, the feature made Singers honoring Bolcom with his
popular on NPR’s Performance two choral settings of Poet LaureToday.
ate Donald Hall, and Maria Ferrante, soprano, Masako Yanagita,
July 7
viola and Estela Olevsky, piano
Music at our Public Library: with Let Evening Come, Bolcom’s
In collaboration with libraries settings of Angelou, Dickinson,
across the Commonwealth on
the theme “Catching the Beat,”
Mohawk Trail Concerts and the
Arms Library in Shelburne Falls
present Adolphe and musicians
appearing at the weekend’s
concerts on Saturday morning
SHELBURNE FALLS—On
in a program designed to enrich
the musical experience of our Friday and Saturday, June 1
community youth. Adolphe, an and 2 Pothole Pictures presents
entertaining and informative a showing of the 1941 classic
composer and performer, will screwball comedy, Ball of Fire,
starring Barbara Stanwyck as
conduct a workshop.
a fast-talking burlesque dancer
July 13 and 14
who moves in with a household
Andrew Garland, baritone, of prissy professors who are writwill present the song Lee Hoiby ing an encyclopedia of slang. The
wrote for him, Pfc Jesse Givens – a sexy “dame on the lam” ends up
teaching them more than words
as the most boring professor of
all, Gary Cooper, falls hard for
her.
Described by coordinator Fred
DeVecca as a “hilarious and
outrageous take-off on the Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs stoCOLRAIN—The Art Bridge ry,” the film was written by Billy
is offering a summer visual and
performing arts program that
“combines the five arts in new
ways, creating original performance art pieces and exhibits
through visual art, music, movement, writing and theater.”
According the age level, classes
will combine painting, printmakSHELBURNE FALLS—Get
ing, ceramics, improvisational the lowdown on renewable entheater, Olympic-style fencing, ergy and sustainable lifestyles
belly dancing (teen girls camp), at RiverFest 2007 Saturday, June
choreography, music, game in- 9.
venting, stories around the fire,
In keeping with this year’s
yoga, puppetry, and crafts such theme, “Celebrating Energy
as painting on jeans, making That’s Clean and Green,” visijewelry, designing henna tattoos, tors can sample “Taste and Try
building boats, and more.
Before You Buy” at McCusker’s
Art Bridge directors Kirk Ste- Market on State Street, where
phens and Eve Christoph lead locally grown and produced
the program with Chaya Lichtig foods are the specialty and spend
(Center School teacher, yoga time with naturalist Kathleen
and voice instructor), Thomas O’Rourke and learn about edible
Rabideau (sword teacher, game plants that grow wild as well as
inventor), Whitney Suttor (belly in our backyards.
dance teacher) and other guest
Music and dancing start at
artists
10:15 a.m. and events conclude
For more information and with Pothole Pictures’ presentaregistration visit www.theartbridge. tion of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient
org or call (413) 625-8275.
Truth at 7:30 p.m.
and Jane Kenyon.
July 27 and 28
Hawley resident and musician/
music educator Alice Parker conducts a vocal and string quartet
in her composition Songs for Eve,
poems by the late Poet Laureate
and Conway resident Archibald
MacLeish. The string trio, Among
Friends, with guest Roy Lewis,
violin, will comprise the quartet;
after the trio plays Phantasie by
Irving Fine, they will conclude
the season joined by Abba Bogin
piano in Schumann’s glorious
Piano Quintet, Op.44.
Tickets ($12-$20 with some
reservations and discounts available) can be bought at www.
mohawktrailconcerts.org or by calling (413) 625-9511 or (888) MTCMUSE.
Pothole Pictures to show
classic comedy Ball of Fire
The Art Bridge
summer program set
Wilder and directed by Howard
Hawks. It is not rated but DeVecca says it should be suitable
for all ages. It’s in black and
white and runs 111 minutes.
The film will be shown at 7:30
p.m. both nights and is preceded
by live music onstage at 7 p.m.
On Friday The JNPT Quartet
plays old world party music and
on Saturday The Ambiguities
play their own brand of literate
rock and roll.
Admission is $6 at the door for
adults and $4 for kids younger
than age 12. Advance tickets are
available for five/$20 at the theater the night before the show.
To contact the theater, call (413)
625-2896.
Annual RiverFest celebration
to focus on renewable energy
In between, you can watch a
video of Who Stole the Electric
Car?, take a quiet-water raft ride
sponsored Zoar Outdoor; watch
a master angler demonstrate of
fly-tying; browse among vendors’
booths, book sales and bake
sales; get up close and personal
with raptors; enjoy children’s
games and mask-making and
take part in or watch the annual
Frog & Flower Parade (marchers
of all ages welcome).
RiverFest is sponsored by the
Deerfield River Watershed Association in conjunction with area
merchants, organizations and
the Local Cultural Councils of
Ashfield, Buckland, Charlemont/
Hawley, Colrain, Conway, Greenfield and Shelburne.
Shelburne Falls Independent • May 24-June 6, 2007 • www.sfindependent.net • page 11
O UTDOORS AND N ATURE
Turkey hunter’s mantra
A
s a responsible turkey hunter, I will
• not let peer pressure or the excitement of the hunt
cloud my judgment;
• learn and practice safe hunting techniques;
• hunt the wild turkey fairly;
• know the capabilities and limitations of my gun or bow
and use it safely;
• obey and support all wildlife laws and report all
violations
• respect the land and the landowner and always obtain
permission before hunting;
• avoid knowingly interfering with another hunter and
respect the right of others to lawfully share the out-of-doors;
• value the hunting experience and appreciate the beauty
of the wild turkey;
• positively identify my target as a legal bird and insist on
a good shot; and share responsible turkey hunting with others and work for wild turkey conservation.
From the Web site of the National Wild Turkey Federation’s
Massachusetts chapter (www.manwtf.com).
“I met up with a first-time turkey hunter who allowed me a chance to step back into time, giving me a much-needed reminder of how
exciting it can be to experience a really super turkey hunt for the first time!”
Only one first turkey hunt
SHELBURNE
his year’s turkey season
has held very few surprises for me. The birds
are acting as one would expect
during a year that’s been very
good weather-wise, and I predict during these last days of
the season that we’ll still find
some good hunting!
I’ve experienced many great
moments during this year
and I’m expecting to have a
few more before it all comes
to an end. I’ve listened to the
stories of others who’ve met
with success, and I’ve congratulated everyone who has
had the opportunity to hunt
the great bird during this most
special time of the year. But
for me, my best moment thus
far occurred on the May 4,
when I met up with a first-time
turkey hunter who allowed
me a chance to step back into
time, giving me a much-needed
reminder of how exciting it can
be to experience a really super
turkey hunt for the first time!
My good friend Ellie
Horowitz from the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and
Wildlife invited me to participate as a guide for a group of
women who had been a part
of her “Becoming an Outdoor
Women” program over the past
year. These ladies had been
learning the finer points of turkey hunting during the months
of March and April and their
day to go afield and experience their first turkey hunt was
quickly approaching.
Their one-day hunt took
place at Fort Devens, which
would be a special treat for
anyone, as I’m told the birds
T
O N T H E R ID GE
By Joe Judd
joe@sfindependent.net
are always plentiful and very
vocal. Ellie works with all
types of women in this program, and over the course of a
year they participate in numerous activities; on this day, it
was turkey hunting, and I’m
happy to report that they were
an eager group.
Ellie has tried for many
years to get me involved in
these hunts, but I’ve always
been off and away somewhere
when the time came. Even this
year I had to scoot across New
York state to get to our rendezvous point by 5 a.m., and I will
admit to being a little weary
when I pulled into Devens just
before the designated hour.
But my weariness didn’t last
very long.
WHEN I ARRIVED, others were
already waiting for their
partners and hoping to beat
the daylight to their assigned
areas. I greeted Ellie and the
others quickly, was given a
speedy map check of the area
where we would be hunting,
and was introduced to my
partner for the morning, who,
at her request, will go only by
the name of Nichole.
As Nichole and I headed off
FA L L S CA B L E O N L I N E
“On the Ridge” host Joe Judd interviews Denise
Murchison from Silverton Sporting Ranch in Maine,
which provides hunting, fishing, ATV, snowmobiling
and more to its guests. Watch the show at www.sfindependent.net.
she was chatting away about
how excited she was and how
she hoped to at least hear
something. I was half listening
to her as my complete attention was focused on this race
we were having with the sun.
I gently suggested that we
needed to get moving and from
that moment the race was on!
We got to our designated
area way too late by my
standards, but that was OK, I
thought...we’d move slowly and
cautiously and check out this
new terrain for a bit. While
Nichole was getting her gear
together I moved to a nearby
high point to see if I could hear
anything gobbling.
Climbing to the top of this
crest I pulled out my owl hooter and let one go that echoed
throughout the hardwoods
that surrounded us. Listening
intently I could hear nothing
that even slightly resembled
a gobble. Two more times I
blasted the early morning air
with owl hoots only to be rewarded with deafening silence.
I waited a bit and then really
let one go ... I mean, I really
belted it out there.
And sure enough, off in the
distance, I could hear a faint
but certain response of a gobbler. I hooted again, and he
hit me back immediately this
time! And with that I was pellmell down the side of this high
point looking for my partner
and itching to go.
She hadn’t heard the bird
from where she was standing, but that would all change
about 20 minutes later as we
crawled on our bellies to get
within eyesight range of what
turned out to be two adult
gobblers and three hens. We
watched them for about half an
hour, calling occasionally just
to keep their interest sparked.
Nichole was, of course, amazed
at the very sight of these two
huge turkeys displaying 100
yards in front of her in full
strut.
Perhaps this might have
been enough for her. After all,
there they were in their complete glory, giving her a show
she would never forget. But I
had other things in mind for
these birds, and as I studied
the terrain between us and the
birds one thing became crystal
clear to me: we were not going
to get a crack at these turkeys
from where we sat! There was
a fence between us and where
these birds were strutting, and
I knew it would be tough to get
them to come through it, especially with three hens out there
just dragging these gobblers
like they were leading them
with chains around their necks.
So I told Nichole that our
calling to these birds was over
for a while. We were going to
sit tight and just watch and see
where those hens would end up
taking these gobblers.
AFTER AN HOUR OR SO of waiting and watching, the solution
to our problem began to surface. During this time the hens
led those gobblers away from
us to the other side of this
notch we were watching. After
a little while longer it became
apparent that they weren’t going to be leaving that area any
time soon.
A “strut zone,” I thought to
myself as the plan for these
gobblers began to unfold. We
needed to get to the other side
of this notch and above those
turkeys. The only way to do this
was to crawl back out of here
and start to climb. By skirting
this notch on the perimeter we
would stay totally out of view
of these turkeys while at the
same time maneuvering ourselves into a position where we
could get to the same side they
were on and stay above them
in the process. I asked Nichole
if she was up for this and her
response to me was, “let’s do
it” — so away we went.
Our climb was a bit difficult
but she kept up with me like
a pro. I carried her gun when
it became a little too steep for
her, but we just took our time,
as there was no need to hurry.
We even stopped to admire
how the mist was rising off a
nearby pond we passed ... and
it was quite a sight to see!
When we got to the top we
hesitated for a moment just
to listen, but all was quiet. I
fought the urge to call from
this spot as I really wanted to
hear the turkeys gobble, but
I knew it wouldn’t serve any
practical purpose at this point.
We just continued on, as quietly now as possible, covering
the last 500 yards to where I
was hoping to set up.
The top of this ridge was
perfect. Plenty of open space
around us for a good visual,
but also decent tree cover that
would help keep us concealed.
We picked out a spot that
looked good and Nichole sat
down quietly and began to get
comfortable. I move carefully
out about 25 yards to set our
decoys in what seem to be a
good location.
I looked back at Nichole and
gestured that I was about to
make a call just to see where
those birds might be, and she
nodded as if she knew what I
was saying. I pulled out my box
call and gave a semi-aggressive
cutting of an excited hen and
immediately was lifted out
of my skin as both gobblers
pounded me from just below
my position. They were just
barely out of sight when they
gobbled again, and I crawled as
quickly as I could to get back
to Nichole. Her heart was beating out of her chest as I tried
to help her prepare for what
was about to happen.
She already had her mask
and gloves on when I arrived,
her gun was in a good location,
and she whispered that she felt
comfortable in her position. I
had given Nichole my mask to
use earlier, so I was smearing a
little mud on my face when the
birds suddenly gobbled again,
closer now and definitely
coming! I looked to my left
and saw their fans beginning
to crest over the slight rise in
the terrain below us, and I put
my hand on Nichole’s shoulder
just to let her know I was right
behind her and to help her
stay as calm as possible.
The birds were almost in
view when she whispered that
the gun was getting heavy.
“Lower it very slowly and let it
rest in your lap,” I whispered
as softly as I could.
Ever so slowly she took the
gun to a resting position ...
again, just like a pro!
“That’s better,” she whispered while at the same time
watching the two long-beards
strut into full view.
THE HENS were coming to our
right, and as they approached
the decoys they began to get
a little nervous. “Oh, no,”
Nichole whispered, but a little
soft clucking and purring on
my part calmed the hens right
down while the gobblers kept
right on coming. At 20 yards I
whispered to Nichole to slowly
raise her gun into position
which she did ever so carefully
without alarming the gobblers
one bit, and I was impressed at
this first-time turkey hunter’s
ability to hear me and keep
calm while watching two 20pound-plus gobblers right in
front of her — quite a testimony to Ellie’s good work with
these ladies.
And while all this was happening, memories and thoughts
went streaking through my
mind: first turkey hunts,
missed opportunities, successes, bad luck, good luck, big
turkeys, first-time-hunts, Nichole’s opportunity! A first time
turkey hunter, as we all once
were, she was about to enter
into a place that would never
allow her to wear that distinction again. And as the birds
continued coming, spitting and
drumming right in front of us, I
whispered in a voice that only
she could hear: “Whenever
you’re ready.”
And whatever happened
next really no longer matters.
We had won the game: the
birds were right there with
us, and we were a part of each
other’s space, a part of this special place, a part of a moment
that, unless you were there,
could never truly be described.
I closed my eyes waiting for
Nichole’s moment that would,
in seconds, be gone. For her, no
matter the outcome, it would
culminate in a day never to be
forgotten. For me it would lend
itself into a new friendship and
a much-needed reminder as to
how it feels to enter into this
cherished sport again for the
first time.
Good hunting.
Joe Judd is a regular contributor
to the Independent.
Welcome, Joe Judd,
to the pages of the Independent
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page 12 • Shelburne Falls Independent • May 24-June 6, 2007 • www.sfindependent.net
Wilder Brook Farm CSA
This season is their 12th as a
CSA farm. John is very softspoken and deliberate. Coming
in from the fields, wet from the
intermittent spring rain, he
washes the dirt off his hands
with hose-water. Inside, next
to a large wood cookstove, he
describes how he and Stevens
came to settle here.
“We were in Boston thirteen
years ago and I had spent the
last couple years that we were
there volunteering on different
farms, and they were, in fact,
all CSA farms,” Hoffman says,
soft-spoken and deliberately.
“They were using that model,
and really thriving on it, really
feeling, I think, like they had
found something that was exciting for them.
“So, by the time I decided that
I wanted to farm, it was to do
it as a CSA, and when we were
getting ready to leave Boston we
were really looking for a place
that lent itself to running this
kind of a farm. Eventually, quite
serendipitously, we happened to
see a listing on this place, and
it was a miserable November
day — it was about as uninviting
as you could imagine in terms
of the time of year, but we still
recognized that what was here
was really a place that we could
put in roots, and we have.”
Wilder Brook has indeed put
in roots, literal and figurative.
The farm’s continued success
and enjoyment over the past 11
seasons has had a great deal to
do with Hoffman and Stevens
selling their produce through
their CSA. It works for them
economically, Hoffman says, because with the season paid for up
front, he can focus on the farm
work instead of on marketing.
Jeanne M.
Lightfoot,LICSW
P S Y C H OT H E R A P I S T
—
5 State St.
Shelburne Falls, MA 01370
413-625-2828
William P. Ryan, PhD
PS Y C H O L O G I S T
—
5 State St.
Shelburne Falls, MA 01370
413-625-2828
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_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ from front page
“I think the deeper value of
it, from my perspective, is that
it really creates an ongoing relationship between a community
of people and a particular farm,”
he says.
“The economics is a part of
that, but the deeper roots of that
are people who get to know us,
and get to know this place, and
get to know the way we grow
things, and who we, in turn, get
to know. This is our12th season,
and we’ve had people who’ve
been coming for 12 years. I
think that’s very rich in both
directions; it’s rich for me as a
grower, in terms of knowing who
it is that I’m growing food for, so
that I can actually be imagining
as I’m doing different things who
it is that’s going to be coming to
get this.”
“Also,” he continued, “I think
people really love having their
kids be able to come to the farm
and hang out with chickens, go
out in the field and pull a carrot,
and see what a beet looks like
before you cut the leaves off of
it.”
Hoffman said CSAs create
a bond between citizens and
agriculture.
“There are a lot of people who
really share the sense that small
farms are an important part of
our community, and our region,
and who recognize that there’s a
precariousness to them, the way
that our food system is currently
set up.” he explained. “So, this
gives them a chance to put their
money where their values are
and help support the farm as
well as the community. More and
more of us are aware of the fact
that if we want a local economy,
we’ve got to shop locally. People
seeking out a CSA are doing just
that. So, to me, the major value
is the way in which it brings
people who grow, and people
who eat, together, sharing the
whole process.”
The mutual relationship between the farmers and the community is a true marriage, at
least for a season, if not for 12.
Stevens, who in her “paying job”
is a minister at the First Congregational Church in Ashfield,
takes care of the bookkeeping at
Wilder Brook and cuts the flower
bouquets that they offer as part
of the CSA shares each week.
“Whatever’s ready that day
gets picked and then you divide
it by 20 people, and that’s what
you get,” she says. “People are
buying a share of the harvest,
they’re not buying one-fortieth
of everything you grow, because
you don’t know what you’re going
to get. Some years, some things
don’t come, and some years you
have more of whatever, and that’s
another way you’re supporting a
farmer.”
Stevens recalls one year —
their second or third — where
a hailstorm in July decimated
their crops.
“It was so hard, and fell with
such force, it just put holes
through everything,” she says,
“and so for a few weeks people
didn’t get any of the greens,
until the next little crop started
coming along. It wasn’t a major
loss, but you’re asking people
to share in everything. You get
the abundance, and the scarcity
sometimes [because of] some
problem that happens. They’re
making a commitment to you as
farmers, to share in the harvest,
good and bad.”
———the———
Donna and Alain Mollard
owners
house
hill
on the
Eating what’s fresh that week
Sharing in the fortunes of a
farm in such a way makes each
week’s share different, Hoffman
says, and this translates directly
to that week’s cooking.
“It’s really great for people
who are excited by looking in
the icebox and saying, ‘Gosh,
what have I got today? Let’s see,
I’ve got these six things, yeah, I
think I could do this and this,’”
he says. “That’s the sort of cooking that the CSA lends itself to,
because you get a lot of things
and you get a lot of different
things, and you get things that,
for some people, are going to
be unfamiliar, and you need a
kind of adventurousness when
it comes to cooking.”
Stevens describes Hoffman as
a fantastic cook, and a self-described lover of eating. As such,
Hoffman seems extraordinarily
aware of his produce from both
the perspective of the grower
and that of the consumer.
“We have potlucks a number
of times during the summer,
and again, I don’t think it’s coincidence that people who are
part of a CSA are excited about
food, and excited about eating,”
Hoffman says of dining with his
farm’s members.
“Part of what was exciting
about finding my way into farming was that I’d always loved
food, and I’ve loved cooking,
so when I realized I could be
growing food, it was a great connection for me,” he says. “Doing
potlucks and bringing people
together and sharing food is very
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Kate Stevens and John Hoffman in their farmhouse.
rich. I feel like it’s a really important counter-trend to what’s
happened: the plight of food in
the culture at large, where more
and more people are grabbing
it on the run, grabbing fast-food
and not having a chance to sit
down together around a table.”
CSAs are certainly part of a
counter-trend, but may, someday, become part of a political
necessity.
“Growing and providing people local, good, healthy, and
clean food is political work, and
it’s going to be more so, as oil
peaks, or the price of oil goes
up higher and higher, and it
gets harder and harder to get
cheap produce from all over the
world, any time you want it,”
Stevens says. “I feel like that’s
an important piece to talking
about CSAs. Another part of it
is protecting land, and allowing
small farms to exist, because it’s
not easy to make money selling
food and, consequently, it’s not
easy to keep open land. So it
feels like it has several political
aspects to it.”
Hoffman agrees. About this
intersection of community supported agriculture and politics,
he says, “It is really all tied
together, politically. Every one
of us, every day, gets to make
a choice about what we want
to eat, and who we want to pay
for it, and that’s a very radical
opportunity. A lot of the things
we buy, it’s hard to go and get
exactly what you might want to
get, or at least vote for something
quite different, but food’s a place
where, to some extent at least,
we really have choices that are
real choices.”
Why not more?
These choices that we make
every day can have major cumulative effects over time in our
community at large. As a general
rule, less buying locally means
fewer local businesses. But, of
course, no one who lives in a community wants that community
to fail. That’s crazy. So why isn’t
everyone a CSA member who
shops exclusively at the local
hardware store?
In terms of CSA, Hoffman
says, there are two reasons besides simply not knowing or
thinking about it.
Some people shy away from
CSAs because they feel that giving a certain amount of money
up front could preclude them
from saving some money if they
were to shop for the cheapest
supermarket produce throughout
the season. One of the hurdles
that people face when shopping
locally for anything is that often
it’s a bit more expensive. Small,
local sellers don’t have the volumes or options of product that
allow huge national and international sellers to price things
low.
Yet Hoffman argues that
those consumer “savings” are
an illusion.
“Maybe it’s the case that, one
by one, if I, as a consumer, go to
Wal-Mart to find the lowest price,
that I do a little bit better financially,” he says. “But collectively,
we all lose. The notion that we
really save money, I don’t buy it.
I think ultimately the more we’re
able to support the things that
are closest to us, that we have
most contact with, the better off
we are.”
“I feel like it’s a privilege
to be able to go into Avery’s
hardware and grocery store in
Charlemont,” he continues. “I
don’t care if something costs
more there because I know that
I’m supporting an institution
that’s been there for a number
of generations, and that serves
all kinds of different needs. It’s
a pleasure to be there.”
The savings, he says, might be
short lived.
“Even just from an economic
point of view, as the price of gas
continues to go up, these savings
are going to start shrinking,
along with the whole distribution networks that allows the
Wal-Mart to be getting stuff from
China. I don’t think that that
system is a sustainable one, and
I don’t think it’s going to be sustained. And I happen to believe
that the CSA is a much more
sustainable strategy than the one
that mainstream agriculture has
opted for.”
Politics of farming
“Sustainable” is a word that’s
been bandied about quite a lot
of late. In its idealized form, it
usually means some system that
renews and supports its own
growth, sort of like a perpetual
motion machine. Nature itself
is usually thought of as such a
system.
Rudolph Steiner thought that
a farm and the people it supports
should be such a system as well:
The farm feeds the people who
feed the farm, which feeds the
people, and so on, ad infinitum.
The health of one is essential to
the health of the other. Therefore, the ruling principle of the
system is not one of individual
profit, but one of systemic benefit. Could the hilltowns really,
eventually, approximate such
a food system through small
agriculture?
“I think it could happen, I
really do,” Hoffman says. “We
have not more than two-and-ahalf acres in cultivation to feed,
say, 50 families. There’s plenty
of land in Charlemont to feed
everybody in Charlemont: What
it would require is more growers.
This notion of CSAs is really
catching on. Clearly there are
a bunch of CSAs around, and I
think we have to celebrate that,
and I do celebrate it. I believe
that, ultimately, every town
ought to be able to support a
CSA or two, but we’re not quite
at that point yet.”
Theory and principles have
their place in the ideas behind
CSAs, but nonetheless it’s likely
few and far between farmers who
started farming on principle.
Like most small farmers, Stevens
and Hoffman are doing the work
out of a simple love of the life it
provides.
Of the politics of farming, Stevens says, “Most of it is just that
it’s lovely, it’s good food, it’s a
nice thing to do and we have this
great community. Twice a week
people come to our home. Their
kids come and they go down to
the brook, and it’s mostly just all
that lovely, wonderful stuff. It’s
a pleasure and it happens to be
political. I don’t think, when we
first started farming, I thought of
it as political. I think that’s been
recent.”
How the garden grows
The mechanics of running the
CSA are another thing entirely,
and a bit different from those
of a conventional farm. Hoffman describes how he handles
planting.
“We grow things in 100-foot
beds and we probably have 200
100-foot beds,” he says. “We
grow about 10 beds in potatoes
and maybe roughly that many in
winter squash. I’ve got 100 feet
of carrots sowed so far, and 100
feet of beets, and in two weeks
I’ll sow another hundred feet
of carrots and another hundred
feet of beets. I start 200 heads
of lettuce each week, and transplant those. I’ll sow beans every
two weeks, and I’ll sow arugula
one week, sow some mustard
the next week, and I’ll continue
to be planting small amounts of
greens each week so I can continue to harvest those each week.
The tomatoes and peppers and
eggplants and all that kind of
stuff; we just hope that we get it
in soon enough that we get some
A partial list of Frankl i n C o u n t y C S A fa r m s
includes:
• Shoestring Farm, Colrain — (413) 624-3358; www.
shoestringfarm.net.
• Commonwealth CSA,
Greenfield — (413) 7743615.
• Laughing Dog Farm,
Gill — (413) 863-8696.
• Sangha Farm, Ashfield
— (413) 628-0026.
• Natural Roots Farm,
Conway — (413) 368-4269.
• Wilder Brook Farm,
Charlemont — (413) 6256967.
good harvest. And the melons —
we grow melons, too.”
One of the special aspects
of Wilder Brook’s CSA is that
it offers fresh-cut flowers from
the large flower gardens as part
of members’ shares. This is Stevens’s specialty, and one of the
most enjoyable parts for her, she
says.
“I think every single week I
say, ‘Oh, this is the best week for
flowers,’” she says. “I say it every
single week and I really mean it
each time.”
Wilder Brook’s shareholders
assemble their own bouquets
from buckets of flowers on a
big, long table out in the barn,
Stevens says.
“It’s incredible. I know what
people charge for flowers, like a
dollar for each little thing, but
here, people are taking dozens
of them,” Stevens says. “I love
that. I feel like that’s really a
gift, because you don’t have to
have that with a CSA, you can
just get your food, but I feel like
it’s an offering. If you were paying attention to the cost, you’d
have to charge more to get a
nice bouquet every week. But we
think of it as a gift, and it’s also a
gift for us because it means that
there are flowers all out here. It’s
gorgeous, so that’s really a gift to
us and to everyone who gets to
come here.”
Sharing that kind of abundance is common to many CSAs.
Hoffman admits that people
often get more produce from
their share than they can eat in
a week.
“There does tend to be too
much,” he says. “It’s hard because I feel like, doing all this
growing, I can’t bear to hold
back.”
Wilder Brook encourages
people to compost what they
don’t use or to take only what
they want from their share, and
give the rest away.
“I’m sure there are a lot of
other people who end up with
more compost, and that’s fine
with me,” Hoffman says. “I feel
like it’s okay, that’s part of eating local, it’s part of eating fresh.
When the summer comes, I have
a five-gallon bucket for compost and I’ll dump it every day
sometimes. It’s part of having
a different relationship to the
source. You know that it’s okay
to cut off a little more.”
CSAs truly hope to offer people that relationship with the
source.
“I think that good food is such
a pleasure. We really do grow
good food and that is a sacred
part of living I think,” Hoffman
says. “I really do feel like it is a
sacrament and I love that about
it. I think, in that sense, we really do offer people a chance to
touch base with one of the real
foundations of what it means to
be human beings on this planet
and I feel very good about being
able to offer that to people. I feel
enormously grateful to be able
to do it myself and to sit down
to meals that are really outstanding, and know where they came
from.”
Shelburne Falls Independent • May 24-June 6, 2007 • www.sfindependent.net • page 13
C ALENDAR
THURSDAY,
MAY
24
Elder law
presentation at the Shelburne senior
center: Attorney Kate Downes
will offer a presentation entitled “Taking Control of Your
Future”. Downes will discuss
Estate Planning, Financing
Long Term Care needs, Reverse
Mortgages, and other options for
remaining in your home.10:30
a.m. $2 lunch donation is suggested, reservations required.
Shelburne Senior Center, 7 Main
St. Information: (413) 625-6266.
SHELBURNE FALLS
Protecting
& Revitalizing
Our Villages—Trends in Rural
Planning, Zoning, & On-Site
Wastewater Treatment: New,
on-site wastewater systems can
alter the development pattern
in small towns. Learn how communities can plan ahead for
these new, advanced technologies, as well as how basic village
planning and zoning strategies
can preserve and enhance small
town village centers. 7 p.m. Free.
. Information: .
WILLIAMSBURG
FRIDAY,
MAY
25
Live Music: Swing
Caravan: Acoustic Gypsy jazz
group. The band plays tunes
mainly from the brilliant Django
Reinhardt’s (Quintette of the
Hot Club of France) repertoire
of the 1930s-1950s. 8 p.m. Free;
tips appreciated. Mocha Maya’s,
47 Bridge St. Information: (413)
625-6292; www.myspace.com/
mochamayas.
SHELBURNE FALLS
Understanding dementia: Phyllis O”Hara, renowned
Alzheimer”s educator and author, will offer a presentation
on dimentia.10:30 a.m. Shelburne
Senior Center, 7 Main St. Information: (413) 625-2502.
SHELBURNE FALLS
Music: Da
Camera Singers: Memorial Day weekend
concert of music commemorating those lost in war. 8 p.m. Free.
Da Camera Singers, Helen Hills
Hills Chapel, 123-125 Elm Street.
Information: (413) 549-576; kmoran@crocker.com.
NORTHAMPTON
Educational
Workshop Series: Starting annuals, vegetables, and perennials from seed.
A review of materials needed
and basic techniques involved in
starting and transplanting your
own seeds successfully.10 a.m.
Free. Catamount Farmers Market,
Mohawk Trail. Information: (413)
625-8174.
CHARLEMONT
26
SATURDAY,
MAY
Fa i r : M a s s a chusetts Sheep
& Woolcraft: Purebred sheep
competition, working sheep
dog trial, adult & children fiber
workshops, fleece & woolcraft
competition. Over 50 commercial exhibits/vendors, spinning contests, angora goats.Fri.
8:00am-4:00pm. Sat. 9:00am-3:00pm. Through Sunday, May
27. $5.00 per car. Massachusetts
Sheep & Woolcraft, Fairgrounds
Rd. Information: (413) 625-2424;
www.masheepwool.org.
CUMMINGTON
Live music: Rob
Fletcher: Acoustic music from
all of the genres and performs
throughout New England. Rob
Fletcher is an exceptional singer, harmonica player and guitarist who has performed with
blues great Ronnie Earl as well
as Trey Anastasio of Phish. 8
p.m. Free; tips appreciated. Mocha
Maya’s, 47 Bridge St. Information:
(413) 625-6292; www.myspace.com/
mochamayas.
SHELBURNE FALLS
Open Hearth CookDEERFIELD
ing: Savor the delicious sights, sounds, and smells
of hearth cooking while learning
about colonial foods and diet.
Then sneak outside to stroll
through the Cooks’ Garden
dedicated in memory of Margaret Quinn Orloske. Hall Tavern
kitchen.9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Free
with paid admission. Historic
Deerfield, Old Main Street. Information: (413) 775-7214; www.
historic-deerfield.org.
History workshop:
fabulous fiber: The
clothes we wear are made from
cloth; cloth is woven or knit
from threads. But where do the
DEERFIELD
threads come from? Learn about
where wool, linen, and silk come
from, and how these fibers are
turned into thread to make
cloth. Practice weaving a wallhanging that uses materials you
can find in your own backyard.
12-4 p.m. Free with paid admission. Historic Deerfield, Old Main
Street. Information: (413) 7757214; www.historic-deerfield.org.
the 19th season.4 p.m. Arcadia
Players, P.O. Box 387. For information or to donate to the auction
or potluck (413) 256-4888; www.
arcadiaplayers.org.
Music: Da Camera Singers: Memorial Day weekend concert
of music commemorating those
lost in war. 3 p.m. Free. Da Camera Singers, Trinitarian CongregaMusic: Jim Scott: tional Church, 147 Main Street.
GREENFIELD
M a n y p e o p l e Information: (413) 549-576; kmoknow Jim Scott as a member of ran@crocker.com.
the Paul Winter consort. Jim has
a long connection with UUs and
Poetry :ScinSHELBURNE FALLS
has visited our church before.
tillating
His hymn, “Gather the Spirit” Sunday Salon: The last Sunday
has become a staple for many of May, will be marked by an
congregations, one of three he event for writers, poets, artists
has in the new Hymnbook.7:30 and all who love’em. Drop in
p.m. $10 at the door. All Souls for chili and chips—and chatter
Church, 399 Main St. Information: too.1-5 p.m. Free. Equinox, 102
(413) 773-5018; www.uugreenfield. Mechanic Street. Information:
org/coffeeandsoul.
(413) 625-6728; gingercatbooks@
aol.com.
Psychic Fair:
LAKE PLEASANT
Divination
methods include astrology, ITUESDAY,
Ching, hand reading, vibration
MAY
connection, and tarot cards.
Consultation is with a medium
of choice. Reiki healing services
will also be available.11 a.m.-4 TURNERS FALLS Pre-1840 Rendezvous in
p.m. Free. National Spitual Alliance, Thompson Temple (across Northfield: Come experience
from post office). Information: the mountain man life of the
(413) 774-4705; www.thenational- 1700 & 1800’s by visiting camps
from the French & Indian War,
spiritualallianceinc.org.
Revolutionary War, and Rocky
Market opening Mountain Fur Trade periods.
ASHFIELD
day!: Smiles and Typically, these rendezvous
good food and fresh produce are for members only, however
all around. Music by the Katie on Sunday & Tuesday of this
Clark Trio! Saturdays, Memorial week the public has an excitDay weekend to Columbus Day ing chance to experience one
weekend.8:30 - 12:30. Ashfield as well. 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Great
Farmers Market, In front of Ash- Falls Discovery Center, Northfield
field Historical Society Museum, Mountain, 99 Millers Falls Road
457 Main St. Information: (413) (Route 63). Information: (413)
863-3221; www.greatfallsma.
628-0198; alirogers@rcn.com.
org; Gary Vigue, 508-248-1163 or
L i v i n g H i s - Original NEPR@aol.com.
TURNERS FALLS
tory of pre1840 Time Period: Join George AMHERST Music: Trumpeters descend on AmHolmes and Danny Cripps for a
hands-on living demonstration herst: Trumpeters and brass
of life pre-1840 wearing period players from around the nation
dress. Geared towards families and the world will gather at the
and adults. 10 a.m.-12 p.m. Free. University of Massachusetts
Great Falls Discovery Center, 2 Amherst for the 32nd Annual
Avenue A. Information: (413) 863- International Trumpet Guild
(ITG) Conference. Tonight, U.S.
3221; www.greatfallsma.org.
Coast Guard Band with UMass
Arts show: Paint- Amherst Professor Eric Berlin,
GREENFIELD
ing, photography, Jeffrey Work, Charles Schlueter
jewelry, illustration, glasswork, and Richard Kelley, and the
pottery, textiles, featuring Lana UMass Brass Ensemble.7 p.m.
Fiala, Deborah Nicholson, Sarah Free. UMass Amherst Department
Adam, Michele Purington, Sarah of Music. Information: (413) 545Concannon, Joelle Burdette, 2511; www.umass.edu/fac/.
Sarah Strong, Jerilyn Kolbin,
Peggy Brown, Leslie Grinnell,
et al.4-8 p.m. Spring Anew: Arts WEDNESDAY,
& Artisans Show, 83 Newton St.
MAY
Information: (413) 773-1617;
www.madsahara.com.
NORTHFIELD
29
Pothole Pictures will present “Ball of Fire” with Barbara Stanwyck and
Gary Cooper. on Friday and Saturday, July 1 and 2.
Music: the Fabulous Maurice!: Come join the Friends for
a night of local entertainment
performed by the Fabulous
Maurice on his accordion! 7
p.m. $5-$10. Friends of the Great
Falls Discovery Center, 2 Avenue
A. Information: (413) 863-3221;
www.greatfallsma.org.
TURNERS FALLS
Advanced Excel: Will continue where the Intro class ends
- those with a basic knowledge
of Excel are invited to join and
learn more about this powerful software program. Topics
covered include: creating workbooks, using functions for complicated computations, creating
macros for repetitive operations,
and worksheet set-up. 6-9 p.m.
$35; tuition waivers are available
for income-eligible residents of the
hilltowns. Hilltown Community
Development Corporation, 387
Main Rd. Information: (413) 2964536; www.hilltowncdc.org.
CHESTERFIELD
Amherst for the 32nd Annual International Trumpet Guild (ITG)
Conference. Tonight,UMass
Amherst Professor Jeff Holmes’
Big Band, Wayne Bergeron and
Eric Miyashiro.7 p.m. $30; $25,
seniors; $20 students and children
under 18. UMass Amherst Department of Music. Information: (413)
545-2511; www.umass.edu/fac/.
THURSDAY,
MAY
31
Music: Trumpeters descend on Amherst: Trumpeters and brass
players from around the nation
and the world will gather at the
University of Massachusetts
Amherst for the 32nd Annual
International Trumpet Guild
(ITG) Conference. Tonight,
The Washington Symphonic
Brass. 7 p.m. $30; $25, seniors;
$20 students and children under
18. UMass Amherst Department
Preschool story- of Music. Information: (413) 545SHELBURNE
hour: There will 2511; www.umass.edu/fac/.
be stories, simple crafts, and a
snack, with coffee for adults. 10 GREENFIELD Full moon meditation: Group media.m. Free. Shelburne Free Public
Library, 233 Shelburne Center tation meetings at each full
Live Music: Jean Rd. Information: (413) 625-0307; moon. Call for exact dates and
GREENFIELD
Dowd, clarinet, www.shelburnefreepubliclibrary. locations.7 p.m. Free. 774. InforRalph Hills, piano: Mid-Week blogspot.com.
mation: (413) 774-2830.
Music series will include
Klezmer Soul music arranged
Music: Trumpetand transcribed by Jeanne AMHERST ers descend on AmFRIDAY,
Dowd and special selections and herst: Trumpeters and brass
pieces performed in memory to players from around the nation
JUNE
the women and children who and the world will gather at the
perished in the Holocaust.12:15- University of Massachusetts
12:45 p.m. Free. All Souls UnitarCD Release
NORTHAMPTON
Party: Celeian Universalist Church, 399 Main
St. Information: (413) 773-5018;
brate the release of Shelburne
www.uugreenfield.org.
resident Seth Glier”s “Sojourn,”
AMHERST
30
27
SUNDAY,
MAY
Live music: Adam
Bergeron: Born with the rare
gift of perfect musical memory
or “perfect pitch”; Adam began
developing this gift around age
2, when he started arranging
and adapting music from the
radio (including standard classical repertoire) for solo piano. 1
p.m. Free; tips appreciated. Mocha
Maya’s, 47 Bridge St. Information:
(413) 625-6292; www.myspace.com/
mochamayas.
SHELBURNE FALLS
1
produced by Michael Gregory.
7:00 p.m. $10 in advance and
$13 at the door. Iron Horse Music
Hall, 20 Center St. Information:
(800) THE-TICK or visit www.
sethglier.com.
Film: Ball of
Fire: Hilarious screwball comedy BALL OF
FIRE Sexy, fast-talking “dame
on the lam” (Barbara Stanwyck)
moves in with a group of prissy
professors and tutors them on
modern slang as boring old Gary
Cooper falls for her in this outrageous update of Snow White
& the 7 Dwarves. JNPT Quartet
will perform old world party
music.Music at 7, film at 7:30 p.m.
$6 at the door or one prepurchased
ticket. Pothole Pictures, 51 Bridge
St. (Memorial Hall). Information:
(413) 625-2896; www.shelburnefalls.
com.
SHELBURNE FALLS
Live music: Theresa
Storch: A nationally touring performer for the past four years,
Boston-based singer/songwriter
Teresa Storch is constantly
moving. Her music has been described as a “bounding folk rock
sound...mesmerizing vocal riffs”
by Boston’s Metronome Magazine and “Vega/Merchant-esque
vocals...funky guitar work...
fabulously catchy folk-genre’d
tunes” by Boston Girl Guide.7
p.m. Free; tips appreciated. Mocha
Maya’s, 47 Bridge St. Information:
(413) 625-6292; www.myspace.com/
mochamayas.
SHELBURNE FALLS
Theater: Jacquqes Brel is
Alive and Well and Living in
Paris: An American revue of
a some of the most passionate
NORTHAMPTON
LLC
Pre-1840 RenTURNERS FALLS
dezvous in
Northfield: Come experience
the mountain man life of the
1700 & 1800’s by visiting camps
from the French & Indian War,
Revolutionary War, and Rocky
Mountain Fur Trade periods.
Typically, these rendezvous
are for members only, however
on Sunday & Tuesday of this
week the public has an exciting chance to experience one
as well. 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Great
Falls Discovery Center, Northfield
Mountain, 99 Millers Falls Road
(Route 63). Information: (413)
863-3221; www.greatfallsma.
org; Gary Vigue, 508-248-1163 or
Original NEPR@aol.com.
History workshop:
DEERFIELD
fabulous fiber: The
clothes we wear are made from
cloth; cloth is woven or knit
from threads. But where do the
threads come from? Learn about
where wool, linen, and silk come
from, and how these fibers are
turned into thread to make
cloth. Practice weaving a wallhanging that uses materials you
can find in your own backyard.
12-4 p.m. Free with paid admission. Historic Deerfield, Old Main
Street. Information: (413) 7757214; www.historic-deerfield.org.
Arcadia PlayNORTHAMPTON
ers New Season Celebration: Our annual
get-together complete with a
pot-luck dinner, an auction,
and a free concert previewing
Finished
Wide Pine &
Hardwood
Flooring
Custom Sawing
50.,&)0&
Beams, Boards &
Building Materials
Bark Mulch
Dry Hardwood &
Softwood Slabs
800%803,*/($0/4536$5*0/
t3&.0%&-*/(t,*5$)&/#"5)t'*/&'*/*4)803,
2VBMJUZ8PSL
."-*$$4
)*$
Jonathan F. George Sr., CPA, CFP
89 Main Street
Shelburne Falls, MA
Ph: 625-9593
Taxes • Accounting • Financial Planning
HALL TAVERN FARM
RFD Mohawk Trail, Shelburne Falls
Jay Healy (413) 625-9008
Jared Bellows (413) 834-1736
page 14 • Shelburne Falls Independent • May 24-June 6, 2007 • www.sfindependent.net
and enduring pieces written by
legendary Belgian songwriter
Jacques Brel, who rose to fame
in France from humble beginnings and went on to influence
the music scene internationally
with his unique cabaret style.8
p.m. Commonwealth Opera of
Western Massachusetts, Sweeney
Theater, Smith College. Information: (413) 586-5026; www.commonwealthopera.org.
Thomas A. Wilson, D.D.S.
Shelburne Falls’ Dentist since 1961
Handcrafted full dentures for 45 years
Get them while I last!
Phone 834-5683
Landscaping
Snow and Sons
A complete line of quality services
for your home or business
(413) 774-2604 • fax (413) 774-3813
221 Leyden Rd., Greenfield • sno2604@yahoo.com
Open 11 a.m. on Memorial Day
Sandwiches available all day
Live music!
• Swift Kicks
SATURDAY, 5/26 • Memphis Flyers
FRIDAY, 6/1 • Slip ’n’ Slide
SATURDAY, 6/2 • The No Nos
SATURDAY, 5/25
Just a 10 mile ride from Shelburne Falls!
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
141 Buckland Rd. • Ashfield, MA • 628-0158
Burgess Stor y Ti m e fo r
Young Families: Stories about
local wildlife, learn how the
power of close observations
and imagining how wildlife
survives creates life-long connections with wildlife study.10
a.m. free. Great Falls Discovery
Center, Northfield Mountain, 99
Millers Falls Road (Route 63). Information: (413) 863-3221; www.
greatfallsma.org.
Alive and Well and Living in
Paris: An American revue of
a some of the most passionate
and enduring pieces written by
legendary Belgian songwriter
Jacques Brel, who rose to fame
in France from humble beginnings and went on to influence
the music scene internationally
with his unique cabaret style.8
p.m. Commonwealth Opera of
Western Massachusetts, Sweeney
Theater, Smith College. Information: (413) 586-5026; www.comMusic: Trumpet- monwealthopera.org.
AMHERST
ers descend on Amherst: Trumpeters and brass
Music: TrumpetAMHERST
players from around the nation
ers descend on Amand the world will gather at the herst: Trumpeters and brass
University of Massachusetts players from around the nation
Amherst for the 32nd Annual In- and the world will gather at the
ternational Trumpet Guild (ITG) University of Massachusetts
Conference. Tonight,The New Amherst for the 32nd Annual
England Brass Band with Terry International Trumpet Guild
Everson and Philip Cobb.7 p.m. (ITG) Conference. Tonight,
$30; $25, seniors; $20 students and Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat
children under 18. UMass Amherst Band.7 p.m. $30; $25, seniors;
Department of Music. Informa- $20 students and children under
tion: (413) 545-2511; www.umass. 18. UMass Amherst Department
edu/fac/.
of Music. Information: (413) 5452511; www.umass.edu/fac/.
Music: CD
NORTHAMPTON
release party:
Camera obNORTH ADAMS
Shelburne native Seth Glier will
scura installakick off his summer tour.7 p.m. tion: MASS MoCA presents
Iron Horse Music Hall, 20 Center “Revealed;” room-sized, walk-in
St. Information: (413) 584-0610; camera obscura to view muwww.iheg.com.
seum’s legendary upside-down
trees.. Free. MassMOCA, 87 MarD a n c e a n d shall St. Information: (413) 662SOUTH AMHERST
Drum Work- 2111; www.massmoca.org.
shop: West African dance and
drum conference to benefit
Educational
CHARLEMONT
Workshop Seour friend and teacher Kabinet
“Kabisko” Kaba. A professional ries: Organic Gardening. It can
dancer from Guinea West Africa be easier than you think. What
who has taught weekly dance it takes to have a successful
classes in our local community organic garden. 10 a.m. Free.
he was recently involved in an Catamount Farmers Market, Moaccident. Drum class at 6 p.m. hawk Trail. Information: (413)
Dance class at 7:30 p.m. Kabinet, 625-8174.
Amherst Athletic Club, 460 West
Street (Rte 116). Information:
Dance and
NORTHAMPTON
Drum Work(413) 519.7686; mag_e_jane@
hotmail.com.
shop: West African dance and
drum conference to benefit
Neighbor- our friend and teacher Kabinet
SHELBURNE FALLS
hood Plant- “Kabisko” Kaba. A professional
ing Project: The Bridge of Flow- dancer from Guinea West Africa
ers will hold a special project who has taught weekly dance
to involve the community in classes in our local community
planting annuals on the bridge. he was recently involved in an
For all abilities and ages (chil- accident. 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. Kabidren under 8 with an adult). net, Sacred Heart Church, 101
Meet at the bridge.10 a.m.-12 King Street. Information: (413)
p.m. Through Saturday, June 02. 519.7686; mag_e_jane@hotmail.
Shelburne Falls Women’s Club. com.
Information: .
TURNERS FALLS
SATURDAY,
JUNE
2
Film: Ball of
SHELBURNE FALLS
Fire: Hilarious screwball comedy BALL OF
FIRE Sexy, fast-talking “dame
on the lam” (Barbara Stanwyck)
moves in with a group of prissy
professors and tutors them on
modern slang as boring old Gary
Cooper falls for her in this outrageous update of Snow White &
the 7 Dwarves. The Ambiguities
will perform literate rock.Music
at 7, film at 7:30 p.m. $6 at the
door or one prepurchased ticket.
Pothole Pictures, 51 Bridge St.
(Memorial Hall). Information:
(413) 625-2896; www.shelburnefalls.com.
2nd Annual Family
Fish Day!: Come join
Silvio O. Conte National Fish
& Wildlife Refuge staff and
MassWildlife staff for a fantastic fishing day! There will
be hands-on fly tieing and spin
cast demonstrations, hands-on
activities, and a FREE raffle
throughout the event for fishing poles and tackle boxes! Are
you a boy scout?? You can earn
credits towards your Fly Fishing
Merit Badge at this event as
well.10 a.m. - 2 p.m. Free. Great
Falls Discovery Center, U.S. Fish
& Wildlife Service; event at U.S.
Fish & Wildlife Service Re, 300
Westgate Center Dr. Information:
(413) 863-3221; www.greatfallsma.
org.
HADLEY
Knitting Classes
at
Beginner instruction available
and private lessons by appointment.
At 5 State Street in the McCusker building.
Call 625-9191
for information and registration.
3
Theater: Jacquqes Brel is
Alive and Well and Living in
Paris: An American revue of
a some of the most passionate
and enduring pieces written by
legendary Belgian songwriter
Jacques Brel, who rose to fame
in France from humble beginnings and went on to influence
the music scene internationally
with his unique cabaret style.2
p.m. Commonwealth Opera of
Western Massachusetts, Sweeney
Theater, Smith College. Information: (413) 586-5026; www.commonwealthopera.org.
NORTHAMPTON
Art: FLUX: The
Consortium invites you to attend the opening
of its 5th Annual Art show, Flux,
at Apollo Grill. Artists of a range
of styles as well as music and
poetry will be featured. The
show will be on display for the
entire month of June. Local artist Janice Sorensen is curator.1-4
p.m. The Consortium, 116 Pleasant
Street (Eastworks Building0. Information: (413) 536-2401; www.
wmtcinfo.org.
EASTHAMPTON
6
foxtrot like “Mushaboom” and
then caterwaul you into full
on goosebumps. 8 p.m. Calvin
Theater, 19 King St. Information:
(413) 584-1444; www.iheg.com.
Pot Luck Supper:
A pot luck supper
at will precede our business
SATURDAY,
meeting and Election of Officers
for the coming year. Beverages
JUNE
and dessert will be provided
by the Women Officers. 6:30
p.m. Shelburne Grange, FellowRiverfest:
ship Hall, Little Mohawk Road. SHELBURNE FALLS M u s i c ,
Information: (413) 625-6592; games, craft, book and tag
reverendmother@mtdata.net.
sales, trolly rides, storytelling,
parade--all this and more in
Preschool story- the annual celebration of the
SHELBURNE
hour: There will Deerfield River watershed. Rain
be stories, simple crafts, and a or shine.10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
snack, with coffee for adults. 10 Deerfield River Watershed Associaa.m. Free. Shelburne Free Public tion. Information: (413) 625-6628;
Library, 233 Shelburne Center www.deerfieldriver.org.
Rd. Information: (413) 625-0307;
www.shelburnefreepubliclibrary.
Film: An InSHELBURNE FALLS
blogspot.com.
convenient
Truth: The Al Gore global-warmIntroduction ing documentary will be shown
CHESTERFIELD
to Powerpoint: for the townwide Riverfest
One of two workshops on Pow- celebration. Seth Glier (piano/
erPoint. In this class, students vocals), will perform,Music at 7,
will create basic PowerPoint film at 7:30 p.m. $6 at the door or
slides using templates and one prepurchased ticket. Pothole
auto-content outlines. We will Pictures, 51 Bridge St. (Memorial
create handouts and speaker Hall). Information: (413) 625notes for the presentations. 2896; www.shelburnefalls.com.
The prerequisite for the class is
basic knowledge of a computer
Plant sale at
(MAC or PC) and knowledge SHELBURNE FALLS RiverFest:
of a word-processing software.. Friends of the Senior Center
$35 for one class, or $60 for both. sponsor the annual plant, tag
Tuition waivers are available and bakery sales plus books
for income-eligible residents of t. and a hot dog cart. Volunteers
Hilltown Community Develop- needed. . Friends of the Shelburne
ment Corporation, 387 Main Rd. Senior Center, 7 Main St. InformaInformation: (413) 296-4536; tion: (413) 625-2502.
www.hilltowncdc.org.
Second Annual
SHELBURNE
Goddess Festival:
The festival will feature many
THURSDAY,
local and regional musicians,
JUNE
belly dancers, fire twirlers, craft
vendors, a silent auction and
loads of kids activities.12-9 p.m.
Hilltown CDC The Art Bridge Center for the 5
CHESTERFIELD
repeats Web- Arts, 100 Brook Rd. Information:
site Marketing workshop: The (413) 625-8275; www.theartbridge.
Hilltown CDC Business As- org.
sistance Program will repeat
its most popular workshop,
Camera obscura
“Marketing your Website and NORTH ADAMS dance perforImproving your Website’s Self- mance: MASS MoCA presents
Marketing Capabilities,” a two “Revealed;” room-sized, walk-in
session workshop. The work- camera obscura to view mushops will be led by Peter Pel- seum’s legendary upside-down
land of Pelland Advertising.6-9 trees. Choreographer Stephan
p.m. Hilltown Community Devel- Koplowitz, known for presentopment Corporation, 387 Main ing dance out of the studio,
Rd. Information: (413) 296-4536; presents dance performance..
www.hilltowncdc.org.
Free. MassMOCA, 87 Marshall
St. Information: (413) 662-2111;
Poetry: Open mic: www.massmoca.org.
AMHERST
Open mic for the
spoken word. 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Educational
Free. Equinox, Food For Thought. CHARLEMONT Workshop SeInformation: (413) 625-6728; ries: Companion Planting in
gingercatbooks@aol.com.
your gardens. An explanation
of what companion planting
is and how it can benefit your
garden.10 a.m. Free. Catamount
FRIDAY,
Farmers Market, Mohawk Trail.
JUNE
Information: (413) 625-8174.
SHELBURNE
9
7
8
Film: An Inconvenient
Truth: The Al Gore global-warming documentary will be shown
for the townwide Riverfest celebration. Kellianna will perform
Goddess-inspired folk.Music at
7, film at 7:30 p.m. $6 at the door
or one prepurchased ticket. Pothole
Pictures, 51 Bridge St. (Memorial
Hall). Information: (413) 6252896; www.shelburnefalls.com.
10
SUNDAY,
JUNE
SHELBURNE FALLS
Live Music: Swing
Caravan: Acoustic Gypsy jazz
group. The band plays tunes
mainly from the brilliant Django
Reinhardt’s (Quintette of the
Hot Club of France) repertoire
of the 1930s-1950s. 8 p.m. Free;
tips appreciated. Mocha Maya’s,
47 Bridge St. Information: (413)
625-6292; www.myspace.com/
mochamayas.
SHELBURNE FALLS
Camera obscura
dance performance: MASS MoCA presents
“Revealed;” room-sized, walk-in
camera obscura to view museum’s legendary upside-down
trees. Choreographer Stephan
Koplowitz, known for presenting dance out of the studio,
presents dance performance..
Free. MassMOCA, 87 Marshall
St. Information: (413) 662-2111;
www.massmoca.org.
NORTH ADAMS
Comedy: Climate change
around the world: Kate Clinton
is a faith-based, tax-paying,
America-loving political humorist and family entertainer.7:30
TUESDAY,
p.m. Suggested donation $10.
Cancer Support Perugia Press, 380 Elm Street. InJUNE
FERDINAND, Vt.
Program: The formation: (413) 587-2646; www.
Hero’s Journey—A Northeast perugiapress.com.
D e v e l o p i n g Kingdom Retreat for Men with
CHESTERFIELD
and Pricing a Cancer: Join other men for a
Product Line: For production weekend of bonfires, cards,
Theater: Jac- craftspeople at all levels. In- and fun at camp! Take a break
NORTHAMPTON
quqes Brel is depth presentations will outline from your hectic life to relax in
the impact the similarities and the wilderness. Learn stratedifferences in the retail and gies to promote your physical
wholesale markets have on and emotional healing while
the development of product enjoying the company of other
SPRINGFIELD—Horizons for
lines.6-9 p.m. $60. Tuition waivers men who have experienced a Homeless Children reports that
are available for income-eligible cancer diagnosis. Limited to here are 80,000 homeless chilapplicants. Hilltown Community 12. Barre Hunting Club (near dren in Massachusetts, many in
Pond).
5 p.m. Friday - 1 transit, staying in shelters; some
Development Corporation,
Deep Tissue387
and Island
Swedish
Massage
Main Rd. Information: (413) 296- p.m. Sunday. Through Sunday, live in cars with their families.
s0AINMANAGEMENTRELIEF
June 10. $25. Forest Moon, P.O. Box
4536; www.hilltowncdc.org
.
Horizons for Homeless Chil164. Information: (802) 380-4238; dren is looking for volunteers
s)NCREASEDCIRCULATIONMOBILITY
s'ENERALRELAXATION www.forestmoon.org.
willing to offer two hours per
plus many other benefits
week to help children in 13
Music: FEIST shelters in Hampden, Hampshire
NORTHAMPTON
with special and Franklin counties. The next
guest Grizzly
Bear: Calgarian
therapeutic
massage training session is June 12-13.
Leslie Feist’s voice is disciplined
To help call (413) 532-0467,
#HRISTINA-4YLER*ETTELMTs
but loose—she can nail a bouncy e-mail creed@horizonsforhomeless-). 3%33)/.3 "9 !00/).4-%.4 s ')&4 #%24)&)#!4%3 !6!),!",%
children.org or visit www.horizonsforhomelesschildren.org.
Take Mom for a relaxing “saunter”
595699
SUNDAY,
JUNE
WEDNESDAY,
JUNE
on the Bridges of Shelburne Falls
and the riverwalk with a Bart’s Homemade
Ice Cream cone following an overstuffed
most excellent McCusker’s
Luncheon Deli sandwich.
You’ll be glad you did.
3 State St., Shelburne Falls ~ 625-9411
Go to www.mccuskersmarket.com, register, and download
a coupon for a FREE delicious deli sandwich.
5
NORTHAMPTON
Homeless children need
volunteers
Tranquil Touch
National senior fitness
days at the Y
GREENFIELD—As part of
National Senior Fitness days,
the YMCA will offer free classes
for seniors Wednesday, May 30
and Thursday, May 31. There
will also be coffee and snacks,
and tours of the YMCA. Call
(413) 773-3646, ext. 0 for more
information.
Shelburne Falls Independent • May 24-June 6, 2007 • www.sfindependent.net • page 15
OBITUARIES
A self-employed steward of the
land, he was a poultry, tobacco
and dairy farmer. He delivered
eggs throughout Franklin and
Hampshire counties into the
1980s.
He was a member of the United Congregational Church of
Conway, former past master of
the former Morning Sun Lodge
of Masons in Conway, a member
of the Mountain Lodge of Masons
in Shelburne Falls, a member of
Shelburne Grange 68, as well as a
former member of the AshfieldConway Lions Club. He also was
a former member of the Conway
School Committee. He donated
the old district schoolhouse, located on his land, to the Conway
Historical Society.
He enjoyed his family and
grandchildren, as well as miniature furniture carving, African
violets, gardening, camping
and traveling. More recently, he
enjoyed cruising around in his
golf cart.
“He will be remembered
as dignified, quiet, having a
dry sense of humor and a good
listener who loved people and
welcomed all who visited him,”
writes his family, who “extend a
special thanks to their precious
friends and dear neighbors, the
Boyden family.”
Merrill Antes married the former Muriel A. Stetson on April
12, 1958.
Survivors, besides his wife,
include his children, Michelle
Sanger and her husband, Peter;
Lucille Antes and her husband,
Bill Haines; and Leslee Colucci
and her husband, Joe, all of Conway; Deidre Antes and her partner, Jane Connors, of Taunton;
Quentin Antes, currently serving
in the U.S. Navy in Afghanistan,
and his wife, Elizabeth, of Conway; and Jason Antes and his
wife, Anna, of Greenfield.
He leaves six grandchildren
— Ashley Antes, Bradford and
Nathan Haines, Abigail, Ryan
and Calvin Antes — and a stepgranddaughter, Freyja Sanger.
He leaves several nieces and
nephews, cousins and accumulated extended family.
His brother, J. Hosmer Antes,
died in 1985 and his sister, Bertha Mayhew, in 2004.
A memorial service was held
May 15 at the United Congregational Church. Burial will be in
Pine Grove Cemetery.
Donations in Merrill H. Antes’s
name may be made to either the
United Congregational Church,
Pumpkin Hollow Road, Conway,
MA 01341; The Salvation Army,
P.O. Box 346, 72 Chapman St.,
Greenfield, MA 01302 or to the
Franklin Land Trust, P.O. Box
450, 36 State St., Shelburne Falls,
MA 01370.
to be defined by its commitment for Life at the Franklin County
to access as well as excellence in Fairgounds.
education.”
The Sacred Gathering will
To find out more about the include prayer, blessings, music
new scholarship program call and readings to help people surGREENFIELD— Greenfield Linda Dejardins, co-director of render fear, maintain hope and
Community College (GCC) has the Financial Aid office, at (413) feel a deep sense of peace and
created a new program that will 775-1105.
community.
open the school’s doors to the
Representatives from several
community even wider. The new
faiths and traditions, as well
Community Access Scholarship
as a variety of musicians will
Fund will provide funding and
participate in the program for
work-study opportunities for
those who have cancer and are
people who might otherwise not
survivors, as well as for their
be able to attend.
family, friends and health care
“This scholarship fund has been
professionals.
established to reach out to those
“The Sacred Gathering honwithin the community who have
GREENFIELD—Baystate ors the religious and spiritual
not seen themselves as college- Regional Cancer Program at connections that are of great
bound,” said GCC President Baystate Franklin Medical Cen- importance to cancer patients or
Robert Pura. “Too many in our ter (BFMC) and BFMC volunteer survivors and to those who love
community leave high school chaplains will sponsor the fourth and care for them during this
with a degree and begin to settle annual Community Sacred Gath- illness and beyond,” said Vicki
for less than their dreams. . . This ering: for Those Whose Lives Sutton, LCSW, chairwoman of
program is created to contradict Have Been Touched by Cancer the planning committee. “Many
those messages with others that Friday, June 8 from 7-8 p.m. in of those who have attended have
shout out, ‘you do belong, you the Survivors’ Tent at the Relay found the gathering to be a time
can succeed.’”
This scholarship fund was
made possible by a significant
and generous multi-year commitment from an anonymous donor
Respect, Integrity, Compassion . . .
from the community. Through
the program, students will also
40 Church Street, Shelburne Falls
have the opportunity to get oncampus jobs within the programs
(413) 625-2121
of study they enter.
Pamela J. Kelleher
“This gift and this program
———
speak to the understanding that
87 Franklin Street, Greenfield
this community has about the
(413) 773-8853
importance of education,” Pura
Timothy P. Kelleher
said. “Our community, in spite
of our challenges, is beginning
of comfort, reflection, hope, sharing and community. Please join
us for this special time at the
Relay for Life.”
For more information on the
Sacred Gathering, call Sutton at
(413)773-2570. For information
on BFMC programs and services
call (413) 773-8557 or visit www.
baystatehealth.com/fmc.
Beda Langevin, 94
CHARLEMONT—Beda (Anderson) Langevin, 94, of Castle
Garden, formerly of Charlemont, died Feb. 21 in St. Mary’s,
Penn.
The youngest of seven children, she was born Oct. 14, 1912
in Ashfield. The daughter of
Bernard W. and Emma (Johnson)
Anderson, Beda Langevin made
her home with her granddaughter, Beda ‘’Lee’’ Oyler and her
husband Jeff in Pennsylvania
since 2004.
A graduate of Sanderson
Academy in Ashfield, she was
graduated from New Hampshire
University. She then trained and
taught at Clarke School for the
Deaf in Northampton. She eventually retired from the Montague
School District.
On June 19, 1943, Beda was
married to Harold J. Langevin
in Ashfield. He died on Feb. 11,
1967.
Very active in the town of
Charlemont, she served as town
clerk and town treasurer, as well
as a selectman. She was involved
with the Wells Fund, 4-H, the
Women’s Club, and was one of
the founding members of the
Charlemont Lioness Club. For
enjoyment, she was involved
with Bridge Club, Mah Jongg
and several other community
activities.
Besides her granddaughter,
she is survived by one daughter,
Charlotte Bennett of Freehold,
N.J.; one stepdaughter, Lorraine
St. Pierre of Bath, N.Y.; two
grandsons, Howard D. Bennett
III of Connecticut and David A.
Bennett of Massachusetts; five
step-grandchildren, and four
great-grandchildren: Krystal A.
Oyler, Jeffrey E. Oyler, David A.
Bennett Jr. and Luke Bennett.
A grandson, Joseph A. Valerio III; a stepdaughter, Marilyn
Gibbs, and a step-grandson,
Armand St. Pierre Jr., all died
previously.
A committal graveside service
took place on May 19 at Plain
Cemetery in Ashfield, with the
Rev. Irving Mullette officiating.
Johnson Funeral Home
Merrill Antes, 81
CONWAY—Merrill H. Antes.,
81, of 416 Roaring Brook Rd.,
died May 10 at home.
He was born in Sunderland,
Feb. 9, 1926, the son of Joseph
H. and Anna (Bement) Antes.
He attended Conway Grammar
School and was a 1944 graduate
of the former Deerfield High
School, where he was a member
of the marching band. He also
completed a one-year program
at Stockbridge School of Agriculture in Amherst.
GCC announces new
scholarship program
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On the big screen
Friday, June 1 & Saturday, June 2
7:30 p..m.
Ball of Fire
Hilarious screwball comedy! Sexy, fast-talking
“dame on the lam” (Barbara Stanwyck) moves
in beautiful
Shelburne Falls
in with a group of prissy professors and tutors
at the historic
MEMORIAL
HALL
T H E AT E R
51 Bridge St.
(above town hall)
them on modern slang as boring old Gary
Cooper falls for her in this outrageous update
of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Oscar Homolka, Dana Andrews, Dan Duryea.
——
Directed by Howard Hawkes.1941. NR. 111
$6 at the door
min. b&w.
or 1 prepurchased ticket
Smith-Kelleher Funeral Home
¶ 9l\eGifm\Z_f I]ZdcaneaVXZ[dgVaViZW^iZidZVi
<^[iXZgi^ÒXViZhVkV^aVWaZ
BFMC hosts annual
sacred gathering at
Relay for Life
SK
SUMMER CAMPS
Sign Up Today
12 different camps
to excite all
children ages 3–15
• Camp Apex (now with
heated pool)
• Sports camps (2/week)
• Gymnastics camps (air
conditioned comfort)
• Camp Allen
• Summertime school
• Specialty camps
&%7g^Y\ZHigZZi!H]ZaWjgcZ;Vaah™)&(+'*"%'%%
DeZcLZYcZhYVnhVcYHjcYVnh)Ä&%
I]jghYVnh!;g^YVnh!HVijgYVnh)Ä&&
YMCA in Greenfield
773-3646 ext. 0
www.ymcaingreenfield.org
SHELBU RNE FALLS • BRATTLEBORO • NORTHAMPTON
Rani Arbo & daisy mayhem
+ Eilen Jewell
They’re back with their funky grooves, smart lyrics,
and stupendous singing. In unique, adventurous
combo of roots music styles, they mix up bluegrass
and swing fiddle, rockin’ acoustic and electric
guitar, clawhammer banjo, acoustic bass and 100%
recycled percussion.
Saturday, June 16 at 7:30 p.m.
MEMORIAL HALL, Shelburne Falls
Box Office: (413) 625-6878 • $17 advance / $20 door / $10 under 18
MIRICK
INSURANCE AGENCY
Serving the community for over 26 years.
Insurance Made Easy!
AUTOMOBILE
HOMEOWNERS
CONTRACTORS
BUSINESSOWNERS
THE HILLTOWN YOUTH SOCCER LEAGUE
sponsored by The Academy at Charlemont
in partnership with The Mary Lyon Foundation,
presents
r
e
m
m
Suoccer!
S
The High School Clinics
for grades 7–12
The Youth
Instructional League
Session One:
for grades 1–6
June 25 – June 29, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.,
July 10 – August 16,
Tuesdays & Thursdays
6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Session Two:
Aug 13 – Aug. 17, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Evening Footskills Clinic:
First 4 days of Session One,
6 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Goalie Nights:
28 BRIDGE ST., SHELBURNE FALLS, MA
413-625-9437
WWW.MIRICKINS.COM
First 4 days of Session One,
also from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.
For more info contact
)(0#+%&&)3
stccmenssoccer@yahoo.com
)&-3,)!+%(
))+-%)()'3
!))'%,3&))'%,$+&!')(-)+#3
%,%-///$+&!')(-)+#1.''!++)#+',4
to download registration form
All programs will run at The Academy.
A special thank you to The Academy at Charlemont, Bath Fitter,
Christopher’s Grinders, Green River Craftsmen, Seaver & Sons
Custom Builders and The Shelburne Falls Independent for
their generous leadership in supporting youth soccer in West County.
page 16 • Shelburne Falls Independent • May 24-June 6, 2007 • www.sfindependent.net
District kids learn to build robots
By Nicole Miner
Special to the Independent
—————
SHELBURNE FALLS—A
group of children in the Mohawk
Trail Regional School District
stay at school after the bell rings
for dismissal, but they’re not doing homework.
They’re building robots.
Friday Academy, a new talented-and-gifted program for
fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students from Buckland-Shelburne
Elementary (BSE), Sanderson
Academy, Colrain Central School
and Heath Elementary schools,
offers these students a chance
to explore robotics and bridge
works. Students meet Fridays at
BSE.
To participate in the program,
students were given a profile
exam to determine eligibility. All
students that scored 90 percent
or better were accepted into the
program.
“All the students scored very
well,” said Academy Director Carrie Benoit. “Almost all
SFI photo/Nicole Miner of them scored 80 percent or
Fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders from the Mohawk district elementary schools who earned academic better.”
admission into the Fridays at BSE program assemble a robot with a special set of Legos.
The profile exam tested for
intellect, creativity, specific
academic aptitude, leadership
ability and performing and visual arts.
The program is funded by
the state, and money covers the
costs of Benoit’s salary, teachers’ salaries, project materials,
busing costs and snacks for the
students. It is uncertain whether
or not the funding will be available next year.
Benoit is hoping to get the
community interested and involved in the program and find
funding for next year if the state
does not offer it.
“I want to see this develop,
I don’t want to see it all for
naught,” she said.
Teachers Kim Hughes and
Andrew Collins and assistants
Emily Burks and Leena Peters
help Benoit. A two-day workshop,
taught by a UMass. professor
who is a Lego expert, prepared
the teachers for the class.
Students involved in the program are first figuring out how
something works by using a
computer program and then
putting what they have learned
into hands-on projects.
Emma, 10, has always been
interest in this area of study.
She is particularly interested in
bridges.
“We are learning about bridges, tresses, and compression
tension; I really like it,” she said.
Being home-schooled, she also
likes “hanging out with other
kids.”
Lucas, 10, and currently learning about touch sensors, cannot
decide what he likes best.
“I really do like the building,”
he said, “but the computer work
is fun, too. But I really just want
to build. I really do like both. I
can’t decide.”
The students were given an
assignment to build a robot that
would move forward 12 inches,
and then back up 12 inches.
“We get to build robots, we get
to learn, we get to build bridges
and use different materials,”
Lucas said.
Friday Academy students will
be participating in a science fair
June 8 to show the community
what they have been working on.
All are welcome and encouraged
to visit and see their work.
Classified Ads • $5 per issue prepaid!
X CHARITIES
RELAY FOR LIFE
The Shelburne Falls Independent will offer a free
listing in this space each
issue from now until the
12th annual Relay for Life,
June 8-9, at the Franklin County Fairgrounds
in Greenfield, for West
County teams to advertise
their fundraising events.
E-mail ads@sfindependent.net.
• Trinity Church team,
the Holy Strollers - team
member Cathy Roberts is
selling cancer awareness
bracelets, each with 18
colored crystals signifying different cancers.
$30 each, $10 goes to the
American Cancer Society
via the team. Call Cathy at
625-2035 to order.
• Trinity Church team, the
Holy Strollers - team members Shelley and Cathy
Roberts have organized
a quilt drawing for a quilt
made in loving memory
of Barbara Jurek Gay by
Helen Remillard. Tickets
$1/each or six for $5. Call
625-2035 or 625-2341 to
order tickts. All proceeds
go to ACS. Drawing will
be at the Relay on June
9. You do not have to be
present to win.
X CHARITIES
Cash Crusaders Team
through Greenfield Savings
Bank is having a drawing.
Tickets are 1 for $1, 3 for
$2 and 8 for $5. Items
include:
~ $25 gift certificate to
the Village Restaurant Shelburne Falls
~ $10 g/c to Foxtown
Coffee & Sandwich Shop
- Shelburne Falls
~ $10 g/c to Christopher’s Grinders - Shelburne Falls
~ $10 g/c to Cafe Koko
- Greenfield
~ (2) $10 g/c to Bill’s Restaurant - Greenfield
~ $15 g/c to Taylor’s
Tavern- Greenfield
~ $25 g/c to Elm Farm
Bakery - South Deerfield
~ $5 rechargeable gift
card to Mocha Maya’s Shelburne Falls
~ (2) haircuts at the Arrowhead Barber Shop Mohawk Trail
~ One Yard of Loampicked up-Demers Landscaping - Turners Falls
~ Hand-blown vase by Ed
Branson -- Ashfield
~ Cosmetic Case with plug
for lights
~ Coffee gift pack from
Coffee Roasters
Contact lspencer@greenfieldsavings.com to buy
tickets. Tickets also on
sale at the team’s booth
during Relay and the drawing will be that Saturday.
You do not have to be present to win.
X CHARITIES
Team Moonlighters sponsors a high-energy fundraiser at the Energy Park
in Greenfield Saturday,
May 26 from 11:30 a.m-2
p.m. with Doctor Malcom, a
hip young band from eastern Massachusetts.
Team Shooting Stars tag
sale Saturday, May 26 8
a.m.-2 p.m.. Ask where at
katrinawinship@yahoo.
com.
Team Debbie’s Angels
sponsors a car wash at
Mountain View Auto Repair on the Mohawk Trail
Saturday, May 26 from 11
a.m.- 4 p.m.
Team Debbie’s Angels
hosts a spaghetti dinner
Saturday, June 2 at the
Shutesbury Athletic Club
from 4-8 p.m. Dinner at
5 p.m.; DJ at 6:30 p.m.
Tickets $10 at the door.
Information: (413) 3679451/ kmcall82682@
yahoo.com.
Team Get Smart is selling
tickets for $3/each to see
Shrek the Third at the
Garden Theater at Saturday, June 2 9:30 a.m. Tickets at any Gill-Montague
school or through Vicki
Valley/ Chris Costello at
Turners Falls High School,
(413) 863-9341. Seating
is limited.
X CHARITIES
X FOR RENT
Mini-Golf tournament fund
raiser for "Relay for Life"
sponsored by Team "The
Eclectics". This event date
is Saturday June 2nd, 2007
at 4:00 pm at the
Longview Tower/Little
Bear Gift Shop on Route 2.
Donation is $10 per person
or $35 for a team of four.
Mini-Prizes will be awarded for the low scoring foursome, and mini-prizes will
be awarded to the first
hole-in-ones on specific
holes. All proceeds will be
donated to the American
Cancer Society via Team
Eclectics relay for life.
Hamburgers and hot dogs
will be sold for additional
donations. Please call to
reserve your tee-time. Call
Ken and Terry Adams at
(413) 325-1940 or (413)
325-1361. If you have
do not have a foursome,
we will combine you with
other golfers to make a
team of four.
X FOR RENT
Up to
1500 sq ft of unheated
storage at the Shelburne
Falls Trolley Museum.
$300/mo. 413-624-0192.
SPACE FOR RENT.
ARTIST’S STUDIOS
Beautiful, spacious, sunlit
studios in a great location. Near the Shelburne/
Greenfield town line in a
peaceful forested enclave
by a rushing stream. Only 4
miles from Greenfield and
7 miles from Shelburne
Falls. $350-$400/month
includes all utilities. 500
- 800 sq feet. For information call 413-625-2724
X FOR SALE
CROSS COUNTRY SKIS! Tour-
ing, backcountry, skating. Extensive inventory,
all levels. Snowboards,
too! 45 min. to Shelburne.
Berkshire Outfitters, Rt. 8,
Adams. 413-743-5900.
ROBERTS BROTHERS LUMBER.
Logging, lumber, bark mulch,
cordwood. 628-3333.
X FOR SALE
electric stove.
White. Good condition.
$250.00. Call 413-6252648.
HOTPOINT
$100
or best offer. Call 413-3398357.
SEARS 10" TABLE SAW
X INSTRUCTION
Shelburne Falls Yoga
Class Schedule
Mon. 8:30 am / Gentle
Tues. 6 pm / Beginner
Wed. 8:30 / Vinyasa
Thur. 8 am / Fitness
Thur. 4 pm / Gentle
Thur. 6 pm / Level 2
Fri. 9 am / Gentle
Sat. 8 am / Yoga-Pilates
Sat. 10 am / Vinyasa
Sun. 9 am / All Level
INFO: (413) 625-2580
www.shelburnefallsyoga.com
1997 Honda CRV
134,000 miles, many more left!
$4,500 or best offer.
413-625-6588
7 Bridge St., Shelburne Falls • 625-6366
So. Deerfield- 665-3771 • Florence • 586-8355
Call 625-6623 to
BY
HAIR HANA
Pasture Your
Horses Here!
NEW
X PERSONALS
One of the
fringe benefits
of publishing
a newspaper
is at any time
being able to
say, publicly
and unabashedly,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM
Our nation is
headed for
a financial
storm.
Are you
ready? Is your
community
ready?
NEW
X SERVICES
X SERVICES
PUBLIC RELATIONS CONSULTANT offers clients a
GREEN SHEEN CLEANING
COMPANY. Environment-
full range of marketing
and professional writing
services. Special emphasis placed on identifying
and promoting uniqueness in institutions and
individuals.
Grace Friary
Public Relations
10 Bridge Street,
Shelburne Falls.
413-625-9100
gracefriary@comcast.
net
and people-friendly, nontoxic housecleaning. Call
Meredith, 413-625-2252
PIANO TUNING AND REPAIRS.
Dave Locke, 413-634-0130,
drlocke@map.com.
DEVOTED TO ANIMALS. TLC
for a variety of companions, multiple visits, good
walks, play, feeding, meds,
special needs. In-home
dog boarding, housesitting,
trips to vet, grooming, etc.
Vet tech experience. Call
Cheryl, 624-3616.
& garden
service. Raised beds. Steep
or damp a specialty. (413)
834-3429.
LAWN MOWING
WISDOM WAY SELF STORAGE. Safe, clean, secure.
We’ll keep your stuff buff!
Greenfield, 775-9333.
Artist Studio
or
Office Space
for rent!
A room of one’s own
June 3, 9:30-4:30
Four Rivers
Charter School
248 Colrain Rd,
Greenfield, MA
Sliding scale admission
($50-$100); please bring a
bag lunch. Scholarships are
available. Space is limited so
register early.
To register, contact
Chris Martenson
413-367-3055
martensonc@
comcast.net
CHARLEMONT- Pasture your horses here!
Well maintained Cape on almost 8 acres with
plenty of room for animals to graze but not too
much to take care of. Newer roof and siding for
this 6 room 3 bedroom home with nice oak floors
and large 2 car garage. $189,000 Call Phil
book your appointment
Per Diem RN/ LPN
Family Practice
Immunizations, Lab
draws are helpful.
Will train right candidate
Please send Resume to:
Stacy Bissell, RN
Caring in Community
1105 Mohawk Trail
Shelburne Falls,
MA 01370
Learn how to protect
and preserve your
financial future at THE
END OF MONEY seminar,
presented by Dr. Chris
Martenson, PhD, MBA.
For listing information & visual tours check out
www.cbupton-massamont.com
Independently Owned and Operated
X HELP WANTED
LARGE WINDOWS
GREAT LIGHT
300 & 600 Sq Ft
High speed internet connection
available
Includes heat and electric
$300– & $500–
Art Bank
Bridge Street, Shelburne Falls
413 - 625-6177
Our low classified prices
will make you flip!
NEW
$5 per issue • pre-pay for two issues,
we’ll throw in a third free!
Hana Rosol
102 Bridge St.,
Cost per issue × number of issues
I enclose my check for $
Phone __________________________________________
E-mail __________________________________________
8 Deerfield Ave., Shelburne Falls, MA 01370
Insert ad for # of issues
$8.50
$8.25
$8.00
$7.50
$7.75
$6.50
$6.25
$6.00
$5.75
Name __________________________________________
3HELBURNE&ALLSs
$7.25
140 State Street at Route 2
$7.00
Eddie’s Wheels for Pets
PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR PHONE NUMBER/E-MAIL ADDRESS IN THE AD TEXT.
tXXXBOPUJPOUPRVJMUDPN
$5.50
-ONDAYn&RIDAY
Ground pickup at noon
Express pickup at 3 p.m.
$5.25
Eddie’s Wheels is your
local FedEx Ship Center!
P L E A S E W R I T E O N E W O R D P E R S PAC E . T H E P R I C E P E R I S S U E I S I N D I C AT E D.
Wanted to Rent
Wanted to Buy
Volunteers Needed
Lost
Help Wanted
Services
Other suggestion:
When it
really matters,
ship
%FFSöFME"WF4IFMCVSOF'BMMT
.POo4BUo
4VOo
$5.00
SHELBURNE FALLS
Rare village find offering
4BR, 2BA perched above
the beautiful village. Walk
out basement, deck and a
one minute walk to downtown. $265,000. Call Carol
For Sale
Found
Free
Instruction/classes
Quilting Classes (call for schedule)
Gift certificates PLUS a full line of
fabrics, notions, books and patterns!
Janome sewing machines
More than 2000 bolts of fabric
CONWAY-South facing P&B on 5Ac with
4BR, 1.5BA, and deck
overlooks the hills of
the Poland Gate Wildlife
Mgmt. Area. $365,000
Call Phil
Antiques
Animals
Auto
For Rent
t'BCSJDt/PUJPOTt#PPLTt1BUUFSOT
SHELBURNE-Awesome
views from this spacious
6RM, 2BA home on 2AC
surrounded by apple orchards and convenient to
Rte. 2 & I-91. $299,000
Call Phil
PLEASE PLACE MY AD UNDER THE HEADING
Tuesday–Saturday 9–7
$6.75
Shelburne Falls