LEVERETT — An 8-foot tall metal and wood birthday cake travels from party to party, town to town, as municipalities celebrate an anniversary. That cake now sits in Leverett. The long wait is ...
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WHATELY — The need for a new town administrator was announced on the town’s website on Feb. 14, Valentine’s Day. That may be a subtle signal that town officials want someone they ...
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SUNDERLAND — “Our School is a Family,” a multi-colored tile mosaic about the community at Sunderland Elementary School, now hangs in the halls where the kids can point to their co...
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SUNDERLAND — In a meeting with the Village Center Committee on Jan. 23, Jason Schrieber, senior principal at Stantec, the urban design consultants hired to explore options for the intersectio...
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LEVERETT — The town has a Council on Aging. Does it really need yet another person to help the aging get their needs met?

Yes, there is a need for a service navigator. Residents and to...
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SHUTESBURY — A new wetlands bylaw, proposed by the Conservation Commission after a long revision process, is the marquee article on the warrant for a Town Meeting scheduled for Jan. 16. In di...
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SUNDERLAND — The office building at 23 Plumtree Rd. fits in unobtrusively among the single family homes in a residential area off Route 116. When the property came on the market five months a...
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LEVERETT — Police Chief Scott Minkler met with the Leverett-Wendell Advisory Police Services Oversight Committee on Nov. 27 to start his department’s budgeting for fiscal year 2025, tha...
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SUNDERLAND — Jason Schrieber, an urban planner with Stantec, knows firsthand the dangers of the intersection of Routes 116 and 47. He came to talk about safety in the village center and was a...
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SUNDERLAND — On Dog Walker’s Weekend, Nov. 3 through 5, Mike’s Maze is open for donut hounds and basset hounds alike. It’s the only time four-legged family members get a cha...
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LEVERETT — Librarians, in the business of keeping books accessible, are sensitive about banning them. Hannah Paessel and Jodi Levine, library directors in Leverett and Pelham, agree that prov...
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SHUTESBURY — Responding to budget challenges to the new library, Oudens Ello Architects slimmed down the project footprint, reduced the height, moved it closer to North Leverett Road and cut ...
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LEVERETT — Viola Williams Black recalled walking around class as a child, during the winter, in a schoolhouse with only one room, in her socks.

“In the wintertime there was a woo...
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SUNDERLAND — Some time ago, Daniel Murphy, the newest member of the Selectboard, got married and went to the University of Massachusetts Amherst. While living in the old North Village Apartme...
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SUNDERLAND — Local daughter Maya Sharpe will perform her music at the Sunderland Library on Sept. 1, her first time performing in the Connecticut River Valley since high school. Her small for...
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WHATELY — Town Administrator Brian Domina opened a discussion with the Selectboard about mutual aid among highway departments in nearby towns. It’s the default arrangement between towns...
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LEVERETT — Robert Bent, abstract painter from Greenfield, paused last week while hanging canvases for his show at Leverett Crafts & Arts.

“I am telling a story, in a sense, a...
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SHUTESBURY — How can the Sawmill River keep flowing under Locks Pond Road when the culvert there is being replaced? That’s one of the questions on the project that’s been ready fo...
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LEVERETT — Bruce Spencer, a local landowner and forestry expert, recently offered the Town of Leverett 147 acres of prime timberland to serve as a town forest. The gift would come with costs ...
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WHATELY — Diane Kolakoski, Ken Cuddeback and Patricia Anne Pirog, members of the Tri Town Beach Commission, met under the pavilion last week, recently updated with new wiring. Electrical work...
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SHUTESBURY — A watershed based plan for dealing with sediment and water quality issues at Lake Wyola was presented to the Selectboard last month, in draft form, by Kimberly MacPhee and Tamsin...
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SUNDERLAND — On June 12, the Selectboard endorsed a resolution and letter of support for H.3567, an Act to provide a sustainable future for rural schools, and the companion bill in the state ...
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SHUTEBURY — Last year Lisa Kuerzel, abutter to the Jewish Cemetery at 221 Leverett Rd., noticed a burial seemed pretty close to her water well.

“There is a burial within 100 feet...
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WHATELY — James Ross, principal of JDR Builders, appeared before the Planning Board for a site plan review and public comment on a commercial building proposed for Egypt Road, parcel 6-0-04-0...
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SUNDERLAND – On May 25 three local groups took to the Sunderland bridge to commemorate George Floyd’s death. Floyd, a Black man, was murdered by a Minneapolis police officer on May 25, ...
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SHUTESBURY — Police Chief Kristin Burgess gets excited about the community policing model of law enforcement. She’s taken some flack for gushing about it, but trains her officers to foc...
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SHUTESBURY — Library Director Mary Anne Antonellis was surprised by how many people came to the M.N. Spear Memorial Library to pick up paints and a 4-inch canvas square, hoping to paint their...
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WHATELY — Officials posted a survey on the town website asking residents if Whately should have one ZIP code. Former Town Clerk Lynn Sibley anticipates strong support because having three ZIP...
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WHATELY — Contractor and developer Robert Obear has been working for several years to facilitate the conversion of the Whately School House, also known as the East School, into residential ho...
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SUNDERLAND — You’ll never believe what we found!

That’s what toy maker Loren Brock wants to hear children shouting over the Wunderland in Sunderland, her project to build ...
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SHUTESBURY — At a public meeting on April 11 Matthew Oudens, principal of Oudens Ello Architects of Boston, introduced residents to three versions of the library to be built on Leverett Road....
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SUNDERLAND — Jennifer Remillard, director of the South County Senior Center, scheduled four meetings in April and May for discussions about one of the most pressing issues facing seniors in S...
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LEVERETT — Selectboard Chair Tom Hankinson summarized the process for building the fiscal year 2024 town budget by establishing the numbers driving the town’s anticipated budget increas...
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SHUTESBURY — The Library Building Committee (LBC), tasked with overseeing the design of a new library proposed for Leverett Road, met with members of several town committees and three archite...
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LEVERETT – Members of the Leverett School Committee, along with Caitlyn Sheridan, director of finance and operations for the Union 28 school district, met with the Selectboard to explain a pr...
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LEVERETT – Member Jed Proujansky wisely suggested the Leverett-Wendell Advisory Police Services Oversight Committee (PSOC) anticipate resident concerns before they surface. Foresight may be a...
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SHUTESBURY – Finding a new job is tough for older workers. One extra problem? Seniors are rusty when talking about their own successes and skills.

“If they’ve been laid off...
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SHUTESBURY – Leslie Cerier grew troubled recently after stepping outside her door.

“I went out to my garden,” Cerier said. “I saw my garlic was coming up and I though...
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LEVERETT – The town will host a meeting on March 1 to introduce voters to four of the seven proposals submitted for Community Preservation Act (CPA) grant funding. The champions who submitted...
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WHATELY – The 30 year tenure of John Hannum as fire chief will end in the middle of June when he ages out of the position. Town officials now have to figure out a hiring process for a new chi...
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SHUTESBURY – The conservation commissions of Wendell, Leverett and Shutesbury are all in the same difficult position, trying to find a conservation agent. Last week, on Jan. 30, the group met...
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SUNDERLAND – Last fall, in an effort to identify and prioritize maintenance and capital improvements for the Highway Department, the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG) was asked...
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SHUTESBURY – Town officials might’ve made a New Year’s resolution this year: bring home a big grant from the Municipal Vulnerability Planning (MVP) program.

According to it...
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SHUTESBURY – The Special Town Meeting (STM) scheduled for Jan. 19 will address remediation costs for contamination discovered around the fire station. Voters will also be asked to weigh in on...
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LEVERETT – In July 2020 Gov. Charlie Baker signed into law the Act to Mitigate Arbovirus in the Commonwealth that authorized broad aerial spraying to control eastern equine encephalitis (EEE)...
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SHUTESBURY – Incidents of destructive graffiti prompted Police Chief Kristin Burgess to field a class in graffiti art for the town’s youth. That counter-intuitive move, an effort to pro...
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WHATELY – About two dozen residents ventured to the town offices on Sandy Lane for the Special Town Meeting on Nov. 29. The seven articles on the agenda dealt with the distribution of monies ...
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LEVERETT – Eva Gibavic, born and raised in town, has deep reverence for the leavings of people who lived here a long time ago.

“I work with some of the southern New England Nativ...
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SHUTESBURY – Wyola may mean ‘quiet waters’ in Native American dialects, but Lake Wyola has been anything but quiet this summer because so many people were partying on the dam. Whe...
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WHATELY – Kat Allen had both unsettling news and upbeat developments to report from the recent student health survey at nine area schools, including Frontier Regional School District (FRSD).<...
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LEVERETT – The town’s newsletter put it in boldface: residents’ electrical costs will double in 2023. The price will jump from 10.5 cents to 23.6 cents per kilowatt hour.

&...
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WHATELY – Residents know what the town needs, according to a recent housing survey: cheaper housing. Specifically, the town needs smaller homes for seniors, starter homes for new residents, a...
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SHUTESBURY – Elaine Puleo was a dean at University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a department head in biostatistics for many years. That experience makes her a capable chairperson for the ne...
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SUNDERLAND – Andrew Garlo is a new culinary hero. He saved Bub’s Bar-B-Q, one of the most popular restaurants in town.

“On June 1 they were going to close down for good,&rd...
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SUNDERLAND – Emily Mailloux wants to confuse your muscles and keep you interested.

“It can get very boring, 30 minutes straight on a treadmill,” said Mailloux, founder of ...
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LEVERETT – Children visiting the Leverett Library these days can meet children who lived a long time ago. Kids from the olden days gaze out from a new high relief mural, “Past is Presen...
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WHATELY – Recent changes to the commonwealth’s marijuana laws did not sit well with Town Administrator Brian Domina. The new regulations are tilted so favorably toward cannabis business...
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PELHAM – Five miles per hour may decide life or death for a pedestrian in an accident.

“The difference between 30 (mph) and 25 is that at 25 you don’t always kill somebody ...
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WHATELY – The Baker-Polito Administration announced last week the Municipal Vulnerability Planning (MVP) grants this year total $32.8 million, a new high, and will assist 73 communities with ...
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SUNDERLAND – David Goodwin and Aaron Falbel, chair and vice chair of the Energy Committee, met with the Selectboard on Aug. 22 to talk about establishing a transfer station for trash disposal...
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WHATELY – The Planning Board met July 26 to hear from residents about changes at 3 River Rd., property used by Debilitating Medical Condition Treatment Centers (DMCTC) for the cultivation and...
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TURNERS FALLS – The ninth annual Pocumtuck Homelands Festival is returning to Unity Park in Turners Falls this summer for a celebration of Native American art, music and culture.

The t...
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SUNDERLAND – Little boys are fascinated by whale poop, no surprise there, but little girls? They’re fascinated too, which is why Michaela Tremblay said, “A big part of this progra...
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LEVERETT – Douglas Slaughter, director of finance for Amherst-Pelham Regional School District, appeared before the Select Board on July 26 to apprise officials of the anticipated costs and fi...
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SHUTESBURY – On June 28 the vote to authorize a debt exclusion for $1.2 million in borrowing for the new town library succeeded with voters, 579 to 250, and surmounted the last fiscal hurdle ...
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LEVERETT – Resident Nancy Grossman is so thankful her son never got hit by a car on Two Mile Road.

It’s up and down, twisty and dangerous, and she knows how drivers think as they...
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SHUTESBURY – The proposal for a new library, funded by a state grant of $3.95 million and $1.3 million from existing town accounts, received additional funding at the Annual Town Meeting on M...
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LEVERETT – Article 22 of Annual Town Meeting on April 30 asked voters to authorize the sale of the Field Building to a nonprofit for a dollar. Resident Ann Ferguson thought the town should ke...
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WHATELY – Vehicles reveal how life in a small farm town has changed over time. That’s why Whately’s 250 year anniversary celebration begins with a cruise night and ends with a par...
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SUNDERLAND – The Memorial Day parade on May 27 was decidedly modest this year.

The school marching band, most of the floats and the crowds didn’t show up. Jim Ewen, the town&rsqu...
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WHATELY – Gathered outside of Whately Elementary School on May 24, roughly 50 voters unanimously approved Whately’s $5.73 million fiscal year 2023 (FY23) budget and definitions for new ...
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SHUTESBURY – In a landslide vote, 422 to 85, residents authorized funding a new library. Money will be drawn from a variety of sources in a plan pieced together...
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TURNERS FALLS – Marise Lyra knew the El Salvadoran ballad would make her feel sad. She said, “It brings a little sorrow.”

...
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SUNDERLAND – Town officials heard good and bad news at the elementary school on May 3. An oil tank may need replacement in the near future, an expensive prospect, but right now there’s ...
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SUNDERLAND – Sunderland residents unanimously approved every action item including the fiscal year 2023 (FY23) $9.3 million budget during the Annual Town Meeting on April 29 at Sunderland Ele...
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WHATELY – Rest assured, Jonathan Edwards isn’t going anywhere.

After 18 years of service on the Selectboard, Edwards, currently the chair, is not running for re-election.

SUNDERLAND – Annual Town Meeting, scheduled for April 29 at 7 p.m., features the usual housekeeping articles that enable town government to collect money and pay the bills. One unusual housek...
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LEVERETT – Annual Town Meeting and elections are scheduled for April 30 this year, with candidates available for every position. The majority are seeking re-election to posts they currently o...
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WHATELY – Planning Board member Judy Markland opened a hearing on the town’s proposed Floodplain Overlay Zoning District bylaw by quoting Conway’s description of updating its byla...
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WHATELY – At the Special Town Meeting on March 23 about 20 residents came together to vote on motions to neaten up fiscal matters and make the town more accessible for the handicapped. The mo...
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LEVERETT – The Finance Committee and Selectboard hosted a joint meeting last Tuesday to discuss the proposed budget for fiscal year 2023 (FY23). If the budget passes Town Meeting residents wi...
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SUNDERLAND – Last week the caucus for local democrats nominated a full slate of candidates for town elections, which are scheduled this year for May 7.

The caucus, held in the upstairs...
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WHATELY – The new owners of Club Castaways met with the Selectboard recently. The discussion left town officials concerned the applicants don’t have the experience to run a club special...
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WHATELY – The highway barn, one of the most heavily used buildings in town government, must be in bad shape. Members of the Capital Improvement Planning Committee visited the structure recent...
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LEVERETT – Richard Nathhorst wants the town to save money with an electrical microgrid. What does he need to do it? Money.

...
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SHUTESBURY – Retiring Fire Chief Walter Tibbetts will leave big shoes to fill, but the study group looking at his position decided they were the right size.

“One of the things we...
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SOUTH DEERFIELD – Jennifer Remillard enjoyed spending time with her grandparents, which prepared her for her new job as director of the South County Senior Center.

“I have always...
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FRANKLIN COUNTY – Fran Fortino, president of Valley Neighbors, a new nonprofit serving the elderly in Whately, Deerfield and Sunderland, earned a big response from residents.

“It...
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WHATELY – The long process to merge the Water District and Water Department, which began about six years ago, is nearing completion. For some residents the biggest difficulty is still to come...
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WHATELY – The rehabilitation of Haydenville Road project of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) was presented to the public last week, after 10 years of delays and planni...
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SHUTESBURY – The first cell tower in the town’s history will soon appear over the treetops along Wendell Road, part of a national network for emergency management communications. As a b...
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SUNDERLAND – The new housing plan presented to the Selectboard last week featured good news, but Bruce Bennett drew attention to a chronic challenge facing towns built on a flood plain: septi...
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LEVERETT – When someone breaks through the ice, saving seconds can save a life. That’s why the Fire Department is seeking donations for a hovercraft, a vehicle that travels on a cushion...
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WESTERN MASS. – The working group for the Northern Tier Passenger Rail Study convened for a first meeting on Dec. 16. The star-studded group will explore whether passenger rail service along ...
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SUNDERLAND – Laurie Cuevas and Jim Thomas, owners of Thomas Farm and Dairy, won a Schipper grant this month to keep their TikTok stars in better health.

...
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SUNDERLAND – Superintendent of Schools Darius Modestow came before the Selectboard last week with a simple message: the town’s capital planning for school repairs and maintenance isn&rs...
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WHATELY – The perennial clash between commerce and social equity erupted last week at the tax classification hearing. Whately Selectman Fred Baron researched split property tax rates and came...
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SHUTESBURY – The town’s Energy Committee, formed when ecology was a new idea, is gone. In December, Rita Farrell, chair of the Select Board, put an end to the 44-year-old body that had ...
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SUNDERLAND – Finally.

Last week, after many delays, the Selectboard voted to award a contract for renovations to the kayak...
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WHATELY – Keith Bardwell, Highway Department boss in Whately, didn’t mince words about the number of accidents between Castaways Bar and the fire station.

“There’s be...
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SUNDERLAND – Nancy Pick first met Curt Griffin about a decade ago, when she “tried out” for the Conservation Commission.

...
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WHATELY – Discussing the cannabis growing facility intended for the corner of State Road and Christian Lane, Selectboard Chair Jonathan Edwards couldn’t keep the frustration out of his ...
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SUNDERLAND – The usual winter road closures began on Nov. 1, but new cables will make it harder for local ice fisherman to reach their spot.

“Cranberry Pond, last year we had som...
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SHUTESBURY – The Select Board voted unanimously to designate 66 Leverett Rd. as the site of a new library, slated for construction next year, one of two locations under consideration.

...
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SUNDERLAND – Upgrades may soon turn Riverside Park into a kayaker’s destination, but supply chain problems are preventing the start of the work this year. Next year, the funds may be go...
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WHATELY – It was many years ago when firefighter John Hannum jumped off a fire truck and ran toward a burning house. A mother was on the second floor, hanging out a window, a baby in her arms...
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LEVERETT – After meetings, discussion and disagreements, a site visit and procedural missteps, the North Leverett Dam & Sawmill Committee concluded that little more can be done with the h...
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SUNDERLAND – The Selectboard faced a difficult question at its last meeting: How will the town spend $1 million in American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) money?

The funds, according to Town...
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WHATELY – The warrant for a Special Town Meeting was discussed and voted on by the Selectboard in a mid-day meeting on Oct. 19. Seven articles will be decided by voters on Nov. 6 at 1 p.m....
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WHATELY – Chief James Sevigne didn’t sugarcoat the Commonwealth’s increased demands on the Whately Police Department, or the costs.

“We’re looking right in the ...
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WHATELY – Since 1951 Adelia Bardwell belonged to the Whately chapter of the Grange. Most of those 70 years her friend, Ruth Leahey, shared the fun.

...
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WHATELY – The Whately Selectboard waffled on a vaccine mandate for the town’s public buildings, voted against the idea, then reconsidered. By the end of the meeting, the board did ...
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LEVERETT – The greenhouse at Leverett Elementary School had a mysterious night visitor. The visitor dug a hole in a vegetable bed.

...
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SUNDERLAND – A Rapid Recovery Plan, paid for by a state program, may help the town shrug off the new problems from the pandemic by addressing the old problems of the village center.

&l...
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FRANKLIN COUNTY – For the most part, the local school dodged a bullet.

“When you look at last year’s challenges, it certainly was going to have an impact on standardiz...
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WHATELY – Your morning commute just got longer.

In a letter that startled the Selectboard, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) notified the town of Whately last we...
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WHATELY – The Whately Center School served the town’s children and governing committees for 108 years, but has been closed since 2018, with no upkeep. Now the Selectboard wants to learn...
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SHUTESBURY – While the Spear Memorial Library has a big place in the hearts of Shutesbury residents, it doesn’t feel airy like a bookshelf. It feels small as a shoebox.

“Ou...
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WHATELY – The Conservation Commission voted to continue a discussion about proposed improvements to the trails at Whatley Woods property maintained by the Kestrel Land Trust.

The prope...
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WHATELY – A proposed marijuana facility cleared major hurdles when representatives recently appeared before Whately’s Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals seeking approvals.