August 23 Edition

August 23, 2012Volume III, Issue 14

www.berkshirebeacon.comLenox, MA 01240

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1 Local News 6 Editorial6 From the Tower8 Pets9 Berkshire Sonata Insert11 Fast Picks14 Calendar15 Beer & Wine16 Movies 16 Girl-2-Girl17 Sports

Lee football gets season underway- Page 20

The Berkshire Beacon

Index

Historic touch

Susan M. Wicker GuerreroBeacon Staff Writer

STOCKBRIDGE - The spirits of 18 people who once lived in Stockbridge will come alive this Saturday from 1- 4 p.m. when the town’s library sponsors a special living histo-ry program titled “The Shady Porches of Stockbridge.”

For the second year, Berk-shire County residents from several different professions will take on the personas of the spirits, forgetting their own names and backgrounds. The 18 spirits will gather, three at a time, on porches of homes in town.

An accountant, a business-man, a librarian, a policeman, a couple of teachers and so on will slip into their roles of peo-ple such as the late Florence

Markham Boyd who lived from 1871 to 1947. She was the daughter of a man who had a contract with the U.S. Postal Service to pick up mail. Feisty and a proponent of open air and physical activity, she was also an animal advo-cate who kept horses.

Barbara Allen is directorBarbara Allen, curator of

the historical collection at the Stockbridge Library, is direc-tor of the upcoming living his-tory program. She is quick to point out “The Shady Porches of Stockbridge” is different from a professional theatrical performance.

The volunteers taking on the personas of spirits are nev-er referred to as actors or ac-tresses, she said. They are pre-senters, characters or, just

History comes alive in Stockbridge

Bera B. DunauBeacon Staff Writer

The campaign of Green Rainbow Party candidate Lee “Scott” Laugenour has picked up its first major endorsement.

Mr. Laugenour, who is run-ning for the 4th Berkshire Massachusetts House of Rep-resentatives District against incumbent William “Smitty” Pignatelli (D Lenox) received the endorsement of the Unit-ed Auto Workers (UAW) Mas-sachusetts State Community Action Program (CAP) Coun-cil on Aug. 10.

The CAP Council serves as the UAW’s political wing and political action committee (PAC) in Massachusetts.

“We thought it was wonder-

ful,” said Mr. Laugenour in an interview with The Beacon about the UAW’s endorsement.

When Mr. Laugenour ran against Rep. Pignatelli for the first time in 2010, he received no union support.

“We’re working harder and we’re getting stronger,” said Mr. Laugenour when asked about what had changed since then, also citing his and the Green Rainbow Party’s dedica-tion to progressive causes. “We’re serious about bringing political opposition to Beacon Hill.”

When questioned about whether he expected to receive additional union support, Mr. Laugenour said, “I wouldn’t rule out more.”

“He filled out our question-

naire beautifully and every-thing else,” said Wilfred “Wil-lie” Desnoyers, President of the UAW CAP Council, in comments to The Beacon.

One of the reasons why Mr. Desnoyers said the UAW had decided to back Mr. Lauge-nour was because Rep. Pig-natelli voted for the 2011 leg-islation that stripped Massachusetts’s municipal employees of most of their rights to bargain over their health care.

“That was a slap in the face to unions,” said Pres. Desnoy-ers, who went on to say that a lot of politicians who’d de-pended on union backing would not be receiving it this year.

Mr. Laugenour has publicly see UAW page 5

see PORCHES page 7


LENOX –The town’s elect-ed officials and employees are determined to tackle the sub-stantial challenges ahead of them in upgrading Lenox’s ag-ing infrastructure, particularly its water and sewer system.

The Beacon sat down for an interview with Selectman Ed-ward Lane, Department of Public Works Superintendent Jeffrey Vincent and Town Manager Gregory Federspiel to discuss this issue.

Although the task of dealing with capital improvements in Lenox in the coming years was characterized as substantial by all three men, each one of them also detailed the work

A problem on the horizon?Lenox looks to address its aging

infrastructure during tough budget times

Laugenour picks up union backing

see IMPROVEMENTS page 14

LENOX - The new street signs, based on of the histori-cal signs in the town are now in place.

The last remaining historic sign, on the corner of Cliff-wood and Main, was used as a model for the project.

James Jurney and the rest of the HDC have been working on the sign project for more

than three years and first be-gan requesting funding for the project in December 2010.

“We are very happy with how they have come out,” said Mr. Jurney. “The font just could not be found any-where so the company had to crave the molds by hand using the Cliffwood sign as a guide.”

Kameron Z. Spaulding / BerKShire Beacon


Fixing the water and sewer systems is one major project.

2 The Berkshire Beacon August 23, 2012


LENOX - Partially spurred on by an outspoken public com-ment, the Town of Lenox is tack-ling the issue of crosswalk enforcement.

“The crosswalk issue is a big deal,” said Lenox Board of Select-men Chairman Kenneth Fowler.

The issue rose to the forefront of town politics when Sunset Av-enue resident Ellen Marshall complained to the board of se-lectmen about lax crosswalk en-forcement at the citizen’s open fo-rum of the Aug. 8 meeting.

“I have never seen it [the cross-walks bylaw] enforced,” said Ms. Marshall. “Every day, at least twice, someone does not stop.”

As a solution, Ms. Marshall suggested randomly policing dif-ferent crosswalks and paying for the extra cost of this enforcement by leveling the maximum $200 fine on violators.

“This is enforcement that could actually save a life,” said Ms. Marshall.

Chairman Fowler was sympa-thetic to Ms. Marshall’s concerns and asked her if she would be willing to discuss them with Lenox Police Chief Stephen O’Brien and a member of the se-lect board, most likely himself, at a future date. Ms. Marshall was agreeable to this proposal.

Chief O’Brien said that he had instructed the police force to pay closer attention to the crosswalks since Friday, and that this effort was ongoing. He also said that a report detailing their findings on crosswalk compliance over the weekend was delivered to the se-lectmen on Monday.

Chief O’Brien went on to say that there hadn’t been many vio-lations, but a few warnings had been given.

Chairman Fowler said that he himself had experienced cars run-ning Lenox crosswalks while he was walking in them, and en-couraged those who experienced or witnessed this kind of activity to take action.

Meeting altercationMs. Marshall later stormed out

of the selectmen’s meeting be-cause she didn’t feel that Chair-man Fowler was giving her enough time to talk about some additional complaints, but her suggestions on crosswalk enforce-ment appear to have resonated with the board.

“The message was important to us,” said Chairman Fowler. “It didn’t fall on deaf ears.”

Chairman Fowler said that a town police officer or special of-ficer would be deployed on Aug. 18 to monitor the crosswalks sit-uation, possibly issue warnings and report back on it to the se-lectmen at the Aug. 22 meeting, where additional action might be taken based on what was reported.

“The offer is still open [to meet with a board member and Chief O’Brien]; I’m waiting to hear from her,” said Chairman Fowler,.

Ms. Marshall, however, said in earlier comments to The Beacon that she had no intentions of get-ting involved any further.

“I’ve brought an issue of con-cern to the select board,” said Ms. Marshall. “I’ve done what I want-ed to do.”

Crosswalks now getting closer look


PITTSFIELD – People came by the dozens to the grand open-ing of the Goodwill Industries’ new flagship store at 457 Dalton Ave. last Saturday.

They looked, “ooed” and “ah-hed,” shopped, stood in long lines to wait for their turns at the registers, bought new treasures and showed immense communi-ty spirit for an agency that has been in Pittsfield since 1953.

“It’s really exciting,” Frank En-gels, Goodwill’s chief executive officer, said of the new store.

Even though the 8,000-square footage of the new store is about the same as the Goodwill store on Merrill Road, it appears bigger. Rather than displaying merchan-dise throughout three rooms, such as at the old store, the new store is spread out in one huge room. The former store on Mer-rill Road is now closed. Merchan-dise will be moved out a little at a time.

“It’s an extraordinary differ-ence,” Mr. Engels said. “It’s like night and day.”Improved shopping experience

Goodwill has been trying to improve the shopping experience for customers during the last couple of years.

It stands to reason if there are better displays of merchandise, nicely arranged for customers to buy from, it is good for the mis-sion of Goodwill.

The new store has wider aisles, more lights and better displays, Mr. Engels said.

The mission of Goodwill is to help people with job training skills and job placement, he added.

Last Saturday, the store did some booming business. Shelves filled with merchandise ranging from china plates and dolls to an-gels, household goods, glassware, books, CDs attracted the hoards of curious customers.

They rolled their shopping carts along the shiny floor. They’d pick up items, turn them over in their hands and place them in their carts for purchase.

Everything in the new store is neatly organized and carefully displayed. Bright, bold bands of deep blue paint perk up the walls.

Large red letters marking spe-cific merchandise areas are paint-ed on the walls such as “electron-ics,” “men’s,” “movies and music” and so forth.

Difficult economic times“The economy makes stores

like us popular,” Mr. Engels said, “but here in Pittsfield there’s also a sense of community. People like to buy in the Berkshires.”

They know the money from their purchases is going into a program right here in The Berk-shires to help people with job skills.

“They have fun shopping and help our mission as well,” Mr. Engels said. That makes people feel good.

The sweeping room where the new Goodwill store is now locat-ed used to house a Family Dollar store. It’s right next to Jo-Ann’s Fabric Store. Goodwill signed the new lease on July 1. The 15 em-ployees from the Goodwill’s for-mer Merrill Road location helped get the new store ready to open.

Children�s clothing is always a popular item, Mr. Engels said, as well as housewares. In addition, a �very big� seller is holiday décor.

“We get lots of it and it’s real popular,” he said.Original recyclers, good for the

environmentPeople might even like the idea

that Goodwill is one of the “origi-nal recyclers” of all kinds of merchandise.

The new store also has a special boutique area for donated de-signer or high-end clothing, Mr. Engels said. Brand name clothing with names such as Aeropostale, Armani and so forth will be sold at the boutique. All proceeds will go to the “Suit Yourself ” pro-gram, which helps provide attire for people needing clothing suit-able for job interviews.

The new store will be open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m.Donations wanted and needed

Like most thrift stores, Good-will depends on good quality do-nations. People who have cloth-ing or other items in good condition to donate can bring them to the back of the new store. Someone will meet donators and help unload merchandise, Mr. Engels said.

New Goodwill flagship store opens in Pittsfield

SuSan m. WicKer guerrero / BerKShire Beacon

Shoppers are able to find lots of items at the new Goodwill flagship store in Pittsfield.


After being discussed at a recent meeting more focus is being placed on crosswalk safety.

August 23, 2012 The Berkshire Beacon 3

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LEE – Smooth jazz is on the way to The Berkshires.

The Lee Community Develop-ment Corporation (CDC) has planned the first Berkshire Gate-way Jazz Weekend.

The jazz weekend is set for Sept. 14-16, after getting the final approval from the Lee Select Board on Tuesday night.

The weekend will feature at least three main concerts and per-formances outside in town gazebo.

The first concert, to take place on Friday, Sept. 14, will feature Sonny and Perley at 8 p.m. at the Spectrum Theatre.

The husband and wife team has

spent the last several years devel-oping and perfecting their unique blend of jazz, Brazilian and inter-national cabaret, which has be-come their musical signature.

Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door the day of the event.

The second concert will feature Charles Neville of the Neville Brothers. That concert will take place on Sept. 15 at 2 p.m. at the Mainstage at the Lee Meeting House in the First Congregation-al Church.

Mr. Neville is the second-oldest Neville brother and the saxo-phone work in his 50-year career has included rhythm and blues, funk, jazz, bebop, popular and Native American music.

Tickets for this show are also

$15 in advance and $20 at the door the day of the event.

All event tickets can be pur-chased online and at the Spec-trum Playhouse.

Karrin Allyson will headline the festival with a performance mainstage at the Lee Meeting House in the First Congregation-al Church on Sept. 15 at 8 p.m.

Ms. Allyson has been nominat-ed for four Grammy Awards and received positive reviews from several prominent sources, in-cluding The New York Times.

The performance is a special appearance with the Amherst Jazz Orchestra, with Dave Sporny as musical director.

More events are expected to be added as the date nears.

Jazz festival announced this September in Lee


LENOX – Those looking for a great book, or even 20,000 of them, will be in luck this weekend.

The Lenox Library will be hosting their annual book sale Aug. 24-26. The sale has become known for its wide selection and large crowd.

“We have cookbooks starting at only 50 cents,” said Book Sale Co-Chair Ilse Browner. “But we also have over 37 categories, so there is something for everyone.”

Browner and her co-chair, Maureen Hammel, lead the way as the group sorts through the over 30,000 donated books to find the best to sell.

“Our patrons call to ask about donating books throughout the year,” said Ms. Hammel. “And our volunteers have already sort-ed hundreds of boxes worth by spring. And still more are coming.”

Any book in poor condition is set aside, and this year they still have over 20,000 books to sell.

The event serves as one of the library’s largest fundraisers and they expect to raise more than $25,000 this year.

“It is a great event and it is for

an outstanding cause,” said Ms. Browner.

On Friday, the sale kicks off at 11 a.m and runs until 6 p.m. Al-though organizers advise getting there before that, as the crowd forms early for what they call a “polite stampede” by shoppers to get the first look at this year’s selection.

On Saturday and Sunday the sale runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Also on those days, anyone who spends $15 or more will be named a “big spender.” Those “big spenders” will be able to pick

out a free prize.Last year’s book sale hit a snag,

in the form of Hurricane Irene. The three-day weekend quickly became two, as volunteers and even the Lenox High School soc-cer team dashed to secure the tent and the books.

Undeterred, customers fol-lowed the boxes that had been moved to the reading room dur-ing the storm to keep shopping.

Even with the missing day, $15,000 was raised to help keep the library operating.

Lenox book sale looks to raise $25,000


Customers search for books at last year’s sale.



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PITTSFIELD – Berkshire Community College (BCC), in collaboration with the Pittsfield Gazette and Pittsfield Communi-ty Television (PCTV), will host a forum for Berkshire Middle Reg-ister of Deeds on Monday, Aug. 27, in room K111 on BCC’s main campus at 7 p.m. This event is open to the public.

All three candidates for the Middle Register of Deeds race have been invited: Patsy Harris, Jody Phillips and Scott Pignatelli. Bill Sturgeon, radio personality with WRSS 104.3

FM, will serve as moderator. Each of the candidates is registered with the Democratic Party and one will be selected in the prima-ry election on Thursday, Sept. 6.

Registered Democrats and in-dependents are eligible to vote in the primary election.

The public is invited to watch the event, either in person at BCC or via live telecasts on City-Link, the government channel of PCTV, or streaming at pitts-fieldtv.org.

The Beacon will also have a wrap-up in next week’s edition.

From the Notebook:

PITTSFIELD – Tickets are now on sale for WAM Theatre’s world premiere production of The Old Mezzo by Berkshire-based playwright Susan Dworkin.

The production runs Oct. 12-28 at the Berkshire Museum at 39 South St. in Pittsfield. In keeping with WAM’s double philanthropic mission, the bene-ficiary for the production will be Berkshire-based Shout Out Loud Productions, a non-profit helmed by Jeanet Ingalls that takes action to address sexual trafficking.

Shout Out Loud will receive up to 25 percent of the box office proceeds.

“WAM Theatre is excited to follow in the footsteps of other professional Berkshire theatres by producing at the Berkshire Mu-seum, which has welcomed us with open arms,” said WAM Theatre’s artistic director, Kristen van Ginhoven. “As a nomadic theatre company, WAM Theatre always tries to find the perfect lo-cation for the play we are produc-ing, and the museum’s theater is ideal for The Old Mezzo, our first world premiere.”

The Old Mezzo concerns the political awakening of a great op-era singer. Alyssa, the old mezzo, is driven by the recent death of a fa-mous conductor to teach a mas-ter class concerning the politics of singing.

The class becomes a play with-in a play, where the audience re-visits important scenes from Alys-sa’s past. She has assigned parts to

four of her students and as the ex-ercise unfolds, we see how Alyssa had to risk her fame and success to preserve the freedom that is so essential to the arts. By the end of the play, through a surprising connection to recent events, the importance of politics in art is revealed.

“Berkshire Museum is delight-ed to host WAM Theatre this fall,” said Berkshire Museum Ex-ecutive Director Van Shields. “The innovative nature of their work, from their dedication to producing art that engages the community to their unique phil-anthropic model, makes collabo-rating with them most rewarding.”

Ms. Dworkin is best known for her books The Viking in the Wheat Field and The Nazi Officer’s Wife, as well as her play All Day Suckers. She was also a finalist for the Susan Blackburn Prize in 1980-1981 for her play Deli’s Fa-ble. Ms. Dworkin was one of the original writers and editors at Ms. magazine.

Notes from Kameron Z. Spaulding

Philip S. KampeBeacon Staff Writer

LENOX – More than 18,000 fans crowded the Shed and lawn at Tanglewood to celebrate John Williams’ 80th birthday. He is America’s most famous living composer.

According to guest speaker Ste-ven Spielberg, “John has given movies a musical language that can be spoken and understood in every country on this planet.”

Mr. Williams has been associ-ated with the Boston Pops for over 32 years and has become an artist-in-residence and laureate conductor at Tanglewood during

most of that period.Famous guests

Praise for Mr. Williams came from around the world, including personal speeches via pre-record-ed messages from President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton, longtime Tangle-wood Conductor Seiji Ozawa, George Lucas, NBC’s Brian Wil-liams and Red Sox players Luis Tiant and Frank Malzone.

On stage guests included James Taylor, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, opera diva Jessye Norman, conductor Keith Lockhart, Leonard Slatkin, Shi-Yeon Sung, violinist Gil Sha-ham, pianist Gabriela Montero, cellist Owen Young and clarinet-

ist Anthony McGill.The two-and-a-half-hour gala

featured songs that spanned Mr. Williams’ musical career. Songs from the scores of famous movies that he created were performed by the BSO.

Rounds of applause greeted songs from E.T., Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Schindler’s List, Memoirs of a Geisha and Star Wars.

Confetti covered the stage at the conclusion of the evening with the crowd singing “Happy Birthday” to Mr. Williams, as he was onstage, singing and smiling at the festive audience with a twinkle in his eye.

Register debate set

Local playwright at WAM this fall

Great composer celebrated in The Berkshires

Jessye Norman, John Williams, Steven Spielberg, Yo-Yo Ma, Keith Lockhart and James Taylor taking a bow after William’s birthday concert.

Susan Dworkin

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GREAT BARRINGTON – Being green has started to payoff for two local towns.

Energy and Environmental Af-fairs (EEA) Secretary Rick Sulli-van and Department of Energy Resources (DOER) Commis-sioner Mark Sylvia recently pre-sented $280,000 in grants to fund clean energy projects in the Berkshire County towns of Great Barrington and Richmond.

“I congratulate Richmond and Great Barrington on joining the over 100 Green Communities across the commonwealth as they make smart investments in ener-gy efficiency and renewable ener-gy,” said Governor Deval Patrick. “Community by community, we are protecting our environment, reducing municipal costs and making Massachusetts a clean en-ergy leader.”

Great Barrington will receive $142,700, and Richmond will receive $137,300.

“Great Barrington and Rich-mond are among the leaders in the clean energy revolution un-derway in Massachusetts,” said Secretary Sullivan, whose office includes DOER. “The Patrick-Murray Administration is proud to support towns like these, which are committed to cutting energy use, creating jobs and pro-tecting the environment.”

Both towns have stated they will use the finds to make town buildings more energy-efficient. The expenditures will include new windows, doors and insulation.

Officials react “With today’s designation, the

commonwealth again demon-strates its commitment to sup-porting our municipalities while advancing our clean energy goals,” said Senator Benjamin B. Downing, Senate Chairman of the Committee on Telecommu-nications, Utilities and Energy. “I am proud that communities I represent, Conway, Great Bar-rington and Richmond, join 100 other Green Communities in committing to these goals through reduced energy use and the encouragement of renewable energy solutions.”

In addition to the grants, each town will receive a certificate

from the commonwealth and four road signs identifying it as an official “Green Community.”

“Nearly half of the common-wealth’s residents live in a com-munity that has made a conscious decision to buck the energy status quo and become a leader in re-newable energy adoption and smart energy use,” said DOER Commissioner Mark Sylvia. “Be-coming a Green Community re-quires hard work, and these grants are a testament to the ea-gerness with which Great Bar-rington and Richmond have rolled up their sleeves in support of a clean energy future.”

Growing trendGreat Barrington and Rich-

mond are the fifth and sixth towns in the county to win the designation, following Becket, Lenox, Pittsfield and Williamstown.

The 17 new communities helped Massachusetts surpass the 100 Green Communities mark, a milestone that demonstrates the commitment of Bay State cities and towns that choose what makes sense both for municipal budgets and the environment.

Once designated by DOER as official Green Communities, cit-

ies and towns are eligible for awards to fund local renewable power and energy efficiency proj-ects that advance both municipal and state clean energy goals. Grants awarded so far assist an ar-ray of projects across the state, in-cluding the installation of solar panels on town office buildings, weatherization at schools and municipal buildings, installation of high-efficiency street lights, and a host of energy efficiency upgrades.

The program is funded through auctions of carbon emissions per-mits under the Regional Green-house Gas Initiative, as well as Annual Compliance Payments made by electricity suppliers un-der the state’s Renewable Portfo-lio Standard.

“This is wonderful news that Great Barrington has earned the designation as a Green Commu-nity,” said Representative Wil-liam Pignatelli. “I know they worked hard to become part of this program and I commend the town for taking the initiative. Our communities continue to lead the charge toward a more sustainable future and this is an-other great step towards that goal.”

Local towns receive Green Communities grants

DOER Commissioner Mark Sylvia stands with Jim Barry, regional Green Community coordinator, in front of the sign designating Great Barrington a Green Community.

condemned the 2011 legislation.In terms of how the UAW came

to endorse a Green Rainbow Par-ty candidate, President Desnoy-ers said that Mr. Laugenour had, in addition to filling out their questionnaire well, been highly recommended by members.

“If the right Republican comes along we’d probably endorse him,” said President Desnoyers, saying that the union didn’t base its support on party affiliation. “We have no allegiance to the Democratic Party.”

The UAW previously endorsed Green Rainbow Party Candidate Mark Miller in the 2011 special election for the 3rd Berkshire Massachusetts State House Dis-trict, an election that he barely lost to Democrat Tricia Farley Bouvier.

“When we find somebody who we think represents the values of unions, especially a progressive union like ours, we support them,” said UAW Local 2322 President Ron Patenaude, who was one of the western Massa-chusetts UAW members who rec-ommended Mr. Laugenour to the CAP Council.

Local 2322 represents all UAW members in western Massachu-setts. These members work in a variety of professions, such as nursing, housekeeping and teaching.

In addition to Rep. Pignatelli’s vote for the 2011 legislation that

restricted the ability of public employees to negotiate over health care, Pres. Patenaude also expressed dissatisfaction with Rep. Pignatelli’s overall perfor-mance as a legislator.

“I can’t come up with one piece of legislation Smitty’s ever written or sponsored,” said Pres. Patenaude.

In terms of the resources that the UAW will bring to the race for the 4th Berkshire seat, Pres. Desnoyers and said that the union would be providing a do-nation in addition to sending out a mailing to all their members in the district and possibly phone banking and providing volunteers.

“We’ll stand behind him,” said Pres. Desnoyers, who went on to say that the CAP Council would be in contact with Mr. Lauge-nour’s campaign to see what they’ll be needing.

“We’re going to try to get our members as involved as we can,” said Pres. Patenaude, who added that he would also be making a personal donation to Mr. Lauge-nour’s campaign.

When asked by The Beacon whether he thought the UAW’s endorsement would be a game changer for his campaign, Mr. Laugenour, while enthusiastic, took it in stride.

“Any time any individual group or voter shows support…that is a momentum builder for the cam-paign,” said Mr. Laugenour.

UAW from page 1

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Editorial: View From the Tower

George C. Jordan III

Lenox Selectmen, when asked about an illegal sandwich board sign in front of The Kemble Inn earlier this month that they had previously approved, redefined their power and over-stepped their jurisdiction.

The four members, Chairman Kenneth Leroy Fowler, W. David Roche, Edward P. Lane and John J. McNinch, redefined zoning and announced they own the property between the street and the sidewalk when, in fact, the commonwealth owns it. Absent was Channing Gibson.

The selectmen said that the sign is allowed on municipal property regardless of the zoning for the actual property – because we own it.

The Berkshire Beacon believes the property in question is zoned residential and lies within the Historic District, but is owned by the commonwealth as part of Route 7A.

The Beacon has never heard or seen documents to support the selectmen’s position. This sounds like legislation by the seat of one’s pants!

Fact is 7A is a state road and thus from the road side to the sidewalk and possibly further on the property is deeded land to the commonwealth.

There has never been an argu-ment or hearing to support the contention that the selectmen have absolute rule over a prop-

erty – residential or commercial.Thus, the sign that the select-

men approved last month is ille-gal in its setting and in the con-text that the selectmen may only approve temporary signage in the commercial district, but not residential.

There is still an issue of what constitutes a temporary sign – a week, two weeks, a month, a quarter, half a year or some un-known date?

The purpose of a temporary sign was to give retailers in the historic district a chance to go before the Lenox Historic Dis-trict Commission and seek a permit for a sign, nothing more.

The selectmen have scratched their collective heads and rolled over to give the retailer the sum-mer months to get a permit. This was not the intention of the town meeting members.

If the selectmen believe they are correct, let them show where in the zoning bylaws they may issue signs in a residential area or that their position to split al-leged ownership of the roadway to the sidewalk and beyond is in their jurisdiction?

This was a poor example: They should have taken the time to find out where the municipal land is as opposed to the commonwealth’s.

Further, they should have de-nied the sign, noting that they lacked jurisdiction.

NEWS ITEM: A local citizen appeared before the Lenox Board of Selectmen and offered opin-ions and/or complaints and then raised her voice to get their attention.

Does her attitude constitute a verbal threat or just positioning herself as a lawyer might do for her client before a judge and jury?

In this case, it is the selectmen, who from time to time appear to hold all the cards and believe if they did not think of it or con-sider the issue, it is not worthy of discussion.

Isn’t the Town of Lenox about democracy? Isn’t it about holding Town Meetings – special and an-nual – to gain insight as to how the taxpayers feel?

Isn’t it about electing a board of selectmen that listens to a voter

no matter how absurd the sub-ject? Isn’t it about offering an idea or solution to the problem?

This woman lives on Sunset Avenue and has complained about the high-speed traffic alleg-edly by employees of Kimball Farms, craft fair personnel and patrons who allegedly block her driveway and the general disre-gard of drivers who do not stop for people in the marked crosswalks.

The more she spoke, the more upset she became. Like it or not, she had every right to be heard and to ask the selectmen or police chief to intervene.

The simple answer would be for the selectmen to write Kim-ball Farms a letter acknowledging the complaint and asking the po-lice chief to have it patrol Sunset

Avenue patrolled at the hours when change in personnel occur.

Also, police could watch the crosswalks and walk the beat for those who have parked for ex-tended time. Come to think of it, it wasn’t too long ago that there was a beat cop on duty during the summer months. Perhaps it is time to bring him back, if for no other reason than to answer ques-tions from the tourists.

Yes, freedom of speech is guar-anteed to each of us. And it cer-tainly applies to our elected and appointed officials to listen to complaints.

To do less is to say the U.S. Constitution Bill of Rights has no place in Lenox.

Let all voices be heard; it will make for a better community.

Right to speak

Selectmenover-stepping

on zoning

George C. Jordan IIIEDITOR & PUBLISHER

Kameron Z. SpauldingEDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Susan G. RobinsonGRAPHIC DESIGNER

Janel M. Harrison, Glenda Lee, Nancy G. Shepherd, Samantha I. Snyder

ADVERTISING SALESBera B. Dunau, Rae A. Eastman, Susan M. Wicker Guerrero,

Janel M. Harrison, Catherine M. Krummey, Dick SyriacCONTRIBUTING WRITERS

The Berkshire Beacon is published weekly. The Beacon is distributed throughout Berkshire County, MA. The Berkshire Beacon assumes no financial responsibil-ity for failure to publish an advertisement, incorrect placement or typographi-cal errors published. Advertisers are solely responsible for the content of their advertising and claims and offers contained within their advertising. The Berkshire Beacon reserves the right to refuse advertising for any reason. All contents copyright ©2012 The Berkshire Beacon. No portion may be repro-duced without written permission of the publisher.



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spirits.Volunteers learn all about their

characters, what time frame they lived in and are able to answer questions from the public about that time in history.

“They are not professionals,” Ms. Allen said. “These are people who are interested in history.”

Cost to attend the event is $20 a ticket, which can be purchased in advance at the library as well as at the town offices on the day of the event. Visitors are more than welcome to just sit back and lis-ten to the spirits, simply eaves-drop or interact with them. There is ample opportunity to ask ques-tions, too. Cost of the ticket cov-ers visitation at all six porch sites.

Proceeds to help library’s history collection

Proceeds from the living histo-ry event will be used entirely for the historical collection at the li-brary, which is actually a “really wonderful museum downstairs,” Ms. Allen said.

The event is also funded, in part, by the Stockbridge Cultural Council.

“We appreciate their giving us money,” Ms. Allen said.

There will be 200 years’ worth of characters on the day of the program. All will wear time-ap-propriate costumes. Volunteers made many of them but some were also borrowed.

“We gathered them from nu-merous places,” Ms. Allen said.

A combination of people helped launch living history pro-grams in Stockbridge. For exam-ple, Tom Daly, who is associated with the Norman Rockwell Mu-seum, used to sponsor walks in the Pittsfield Cemetery. He helped start historical walks in the cemetery in Stockbridge, Ms. Allen said.

Then, the library got involved and one of the presenters, Mary Balle, suggested doing a living history program off-site as a fun-draiser for the library, Ms. Allen said.

Program evolved“It just evolved,” she said.

“There are many community participants.”

In addition to Ms. Balle, Patri-cia “Pat” Flynn is also involved in the logistics of the program, Ms. Allen said.

There are no scripts or rehears-als for The Shady Porches pro-gram since it is impossible to get 18 people together. Each pre-senter is given some information about his or her spirit and many people do additional research on their own.

The volunteers are never iden-tified since they slip into the per-sonas of their spirits and must never come out of character, Ms. Allen said.

“That is part of how this is so different,” she said.

Catherine M. KrummeyBeacon Staff Writer

LENOX – What could possi-bly bring renowned photogra-pher Annie Leibovitz, supermod-el Natalia Vodianova, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jeffrey Eu-genides and award-winning actor Elijah Wood together for a day at The Mount?

The chance to recreate the world of Edith Wharton along-side other renowned writers, ac-tors and artists for a spread in Vogue magazine is what brought them to The Berkshires this June. The 16-page pictorial taken by Ms. Leibovitz is featured in the September 2012 issue (with pop singer Lady Gaga on the cover).

“We are thrilled that Vogue has created this wonderful homage to Edith Wharton,” said Susan Wissler, executive director of The Mount.

Ms. Vodianova is the star of the shoot, portraying Mrs. Wharton in dramatic fashion. Mr. Eugen-ides co-stars as writer Henry James, alongside Mr. Wood as Cook, Mrs. Wharton’s chauffeur; actor Jack Huston as journalist William Morton Fullerton; ac-tress Juno Temple as Anna Bahl-mann, Mrs. Wharton’s secretary and companion; actress Mamie Gummer as Beatrix Farrand, Mrs. Wharton’s niece; writer Ju-not Diaz as Walter Van Rensse-laer Berry, a close friend of Mrs. Wharton and Mr. James; writer Jonathan Safran Foer as architect Ogden Codman Jr.; actor Max Minghella as painter Maxfield Parrish; and actor James Cordon as Theodore Roosevelt.

Artist Nate Lowman also por-trayed sculptor Daniel Chester French, another notable former resident of The Berkshires.

Ms. Leibovitz’s photos were based on ones taken of Mrs. Wharton and her contemporaries during the 10 years she called The Mount her summer home. The originals can be viewed on-line at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.

The shoot took place through-out the interior and exterior of The Mount and at Chesterwood, Mr. French’s Stockbridge home, which is now a museum.

“Being a part of Vogue’s Sep-tember issue will help elevate the

visibility of The Mount and the Berkshire region on national and international levels,” said Rebec-ka McDougall, The Mount’s marketing and communications director. “It’s very exciting.”

This national media coverage draws more attention to the cele-bration of what would’ve been Mrs. Wharton’s 150th birthday year.

“We knew we wanted to tell more of Wharton’s story in this celebratory year, her 150th birth-day, to build awareness of the work we are doing here,” Ms. McDougall said. “We are delight-ed Vogue was interested in con-veying a major part of it, calling attention to Wharton’s lasting rel-evance and her continuing role as a 21st century muse.”

Ms. Wissler added that Ms. Leibovitz and Grace Codding-

ton, Vogue’s creative director (who styled the shoot at The Mount), recognized Mrs. Whar-ton’s significance.

“It’s [The Mount] where she blossomed into one of the great-est American writers of all time,” Ms. Wissler said. “It’s no surprise that Annie Leibovitz and Grace Coddington, two women who have achieved world renown and respect in their given fields, are inspired by Wharton.”

In addition the the photo spread, the September issue of Vogue features an essay by award-winning author Colm Tóibín on Mrs. Wharton and her relation-ships with the rest of the histori-cal figures portrayed in the shoot.

Vogue’s website also features be-hind-the-scenes interviews with the stars of the shoot.

PORCHES from page 1

credit: StocKBridge liBrary

These “spirts” answered questions about their time period during last years living history program.

Vogue comes to honor Edith Wharton at Mount

credit: Vogue

In the September issue of Vogue Natalia Vodianova, above, will represent Edith Wharton.


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The Berkshire Sonata

Late Summer 2012Volume 2 • Issue 6

Jacob’s Pillow Page 9

Ella Baff Page 12

Robbins-Zust Marionettes Page 12

berKSHIreplayers

Janel M. HarrisonBeacon Staff Writer

BECKET – Jacob’s Pillow is an incan-descent escape on the winding Route 20/Jacob’s Ladder, down a rustic country road, finally finding oneself upon a bu-colic 1700s mountain top farm enveloped in greens and golds.

It’s a enchanting place like no other, where Andrew Boynton said it well this June when he wrote in The New Yorker, “There’s No Place Like Jacob’s Pillow.”

It’s a place where one word enters the minds and souls of its visitors: dance.

History of the nameYou may ask yourself how Jacob’s Pil-

low received its name. As written in Ja-cob’s Pillow Director of Preservation Nor-ton Owen’s book, A Certain Place; The Jacob’s Pillow Story, it was during the days of horse-drawn carriages when Route 20 was the main stagecoach road between Boston and Albany.

In order for the road to cross over the steep mountain it had to go switchback with one section resembling the rungs of a ladder. Mr. Owen writes, “Biblically-minded New Englanders were reminded of the story in Genesis 28 wherein Jacob dreamed of a ladder to heaven, and so a portion of Route 20 became known as Ja-cob’s Ladder.”

The owners of Carter’s Farm, now the site of Jacob’s Pillow, thought that a unique boulder on the property could have been the rock that Jacob used for a pillow to rest and so Jacob’s Pillow came to be with all its magical elements.

“Enthusiastic” 80th seasonThis season, the Pillow celebrates 80

years of dance legacy and in an interview with Executive and Artistic Director Ella Baff, two words were said to describe this celebratory season, “totally enthusiastic.”

She added, “I’m trying to really expand ideas for audiences and we represent a wide range of dance. The Pillow is a place where we honor tradition, but we’re also creating new ones.”

She’s especially excited about the all-male dance company Kafig, led by inter-national choreographer Mourad Merzouki.

The company has toured the world with sold-out performances exhibiting a dy-namic blend of smooth samba, athletic hip-hop and Brazilian capoeira and was seen Aug. 15-19 at the Pillow.

Inspiration from founderThe company’s performances are much

in keeping with the history of Jacob’s Pil-low and its founder, the legendary dancer/choreographer Ted Shawn, when in 1931, he purchased the Carter Family Farm and broke cultural boundaries with his pio-neering forms of American modern dance and his sensational company of male dancers.

In an on-grounds interview, Director of Preservation Norton Owen spoke of his remarkable exhibit “Decades of Dance,”

wherein he used centered themes to depict eight decades of dance history at the Pil-low, beginning with Mr. Shawn and his male dancers, who lived on premises, and when they weren’t dancing, they were painting, building and remodeling the farm houses on site.

Barn showcases Pillow historyIn fact, housed in Blake’s Barn (The Vis-

itor’s Center) are both art and photogra-phy exhibits along with the Pillow’s exten-sive archive collection of photos, videos, books and more.

One can see a picture of Ted Shaw. He appears to be floating gracefully on a lad-der, paint brush in hand, bending forward, toe pointing back as he white-washes the farm house.

The 18th century barn was moved piece-by-piece to the Pillow in 1992 from

The storied history of a mecca of dance

courteSy photo

This week is the last week for the 2012 season at Jacob’s Pillow. Performanc-es run through Aug. 26 and tickets are available.

see DANCE page 10

10 The Berkshire Sonata August 2011

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the Stock bridge property of famed danc-er Marge Champion in memory of her dancer son, Blake Champion, who died tragically in a motor vehicle accident.

Mr. Owen spoke passionately of Ja-cob’s Pillow and all that it means for him.

This is his 37th season with Jacob’s Pil-low, where he began as a student dancer himself in 1976 and his position has con-tinued to evolve through out the years.

He said, “It’s exciting for me to be here as it enables us to say something about the Pillow and our longitude in a way that’s thought-provoking.”

Exhibit encompasses 80 yearsHe adds in regard to developing the

“Decades of Dance” themes, “I asked myself, ‘How do you encompass 80 years into an exhibit?’”

And brilliantly he came up with seven themes that offer opportunities for re-flection and “transcend time.”

Mr. Owen wrote, “The exhibition fo-cuses on a representative sampling of noteworthy dancers who have appeared at the Pillow since the first season in 1933.”

The themes are:“Cultural Diversity” exemplifies Ted

Shawn’s belief that dance is the universal language and as such has power to pro-mote one world.

“Emerging Talents” recognizes many dancers and choreographers have been seen at the pillow in the earliest stages of their careers.

“Celebrated Partnerships” depicts teamwork as an essential part of Pillow performances. “Sense of Place” details how the natural environment of Jacob’s Pillow has always provided dancers with a perfect backdrop.

“Pushing Boundaries” explores the idea that dance forever expanding, en-

compassing what is Ted Shawn de-scribed as “every way that man has moved rhythmically to express himself.”

“Icons” displays the dance world’s legendary figures who have always held important place at Jacob’s Pillow, usually center stage.

“Passing it On” demonstrates the fact that since Jacob’s Pillow began training dancers in 1933.

With each theme decadent and memorable photos of dancers are ex-hibited, along with additional moving video footage now available on the “Virtual Pillow” website.

Building on the historyDancers such as Ted Shawn and his

male dancers and at one time wife and dance partner Ruth St. Dennis, Paul Taylor, Gregory Hines, Janet Collins, Alexandria Danilova, Judith Jamison, Savin Glover and Mikhail Barysh-nikov are just a handful of the accom-plished names who have graced the Pillow with their spellbinding talent.

With Jacob’s Pillow comes its vast and diverse history of the Carter Farm, The Underground Railroad, struggles during World War II with gas rations, the loss of Ted Shawn’s male dancers to the military and The Renaissance.

With it also comes the future bright with new directions, expanding hori-zons and dancers that will take us into a new century.

Janel m. harriSon/ BerKShire Beacon

Norton Owen Director of Preservation at Jacob’s Pillow stands in front of Blake’s Barn.

DANCE from page 9

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August 2011 The Berkshire Sonata 11

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BECKET – As the 80th season of Ja-cob’s Pillow comes down to its last couple of weeks, Ella Baff, the executive and artis-tic director, discusses the “extraordinary” performances that have come across the stage in Becket.

“Every week has really been extraordi-nary, because we present so many different kinds of dance,” Ms. Baff said.

In performances earlier this month, Compagnie Käfig, whose program features acrobatics skills and athletic samba, hip-hop and capoeira dance styles, is a high-light of the 80th season for Ms. Baff.

“This isn’t a regular dance company – it’s a show,” she said.

In the history of the Pillow and Ms. Baff ’s 14 years as director, expanding the free programming has been an important milestone, as this season’s offerings include more than 200 free events.

In looking to the future – the next 80 years – one thing on Ms. Baff ’s mind is building up the property.

“I want to build a better studio for our school,” she said. “We’re an international-ly-recognized school for pre-professionals, but the current studio is too small and the ceiling’s too low.”

Ms. Baff would also like to see more housing for the artists added, as half of them currently have to stay in town due to a lack of space.

“They don’t get a chance to be on-site and be part of the community – a very im-

portant part of the Pillow,” she said.In order to see these improvements

come to fruition, she would like to receive more support from donors so they can do a better job of paying the artists who come to the Pillow to perform, adding that they currently work with a “tight budget.”

However, Ms. Baff believes that the sup-port of all their patrons and donors is a large part of what has gotten the Pillow through its first 80 years.

“I want to thank everybody in the world who supports Jacob’s Pillow and the arts,” she said. “It’s a place that has made a deep and meaningful impact on artists and audiences.”

Nancy G. ShepherdSpecial to The Beacon

Once upon a time there were two peo-ple who had a dream about making fairy tales come to life in a make-believe world. These were not your usual fairy tales of just words; they were fairy tales using strings to tell a story.

Such was the dream of Genie Zust and her late husband, Richard Robbins. Since its opening on Shakespeare’s birthday in 1971, this admirable couple entertained thousands of children of all ages at the Gramercy Arts Theater, City Museum in New York, temples, cabarets and other venues as the Robbins-Zust Family Marionettes.

All in all, there are over 130 puppets in the family, some dating back over 40 years, with periodic repairs or costume changes having been made. Mr. Robbins designed, then skillfully carved the 20 to 30 pieces required for each puppet’s wooden body (the heads are more complicated).

Mrs. Zust then painted the puppets, de-signed and made their costumes. It is in-teresting to note the evolution of the pup-pets over the years, the subtle differences in the styling of hands and heads as Mr. Robbins refined his designs.

The Robbins-Zust Family Marionettes was more than a name for this original group of performers. Originally, this fam-ily of artists, puppeteers and designers was composed and headed by Richard Rob-bins and Genie Zust with their children, Dion, Maia and Thea Robbins-Zust.

Today, Dion is the sole producer, direc-tor and occasional star of the shows and works with a cast of “angels” who are on-stage for performances. One such per-former, Gabe Jones, plays the bass and guitar, accompanied by a piano/synthesiz-er. Additional puppeteers perform with the family, including third-generation Milo Robbins-Zust.

Dion masterminds the complete pro-duction from setting up the theater and props, operating and narrating, while pup-peteers (skillfully keeping all strings sepa-rate) make puppets dance across the stage and bellow at each other with continually changing voices, performing the speaking roles rather than using prerecorded dialogues.

Thus, he is able to keep a constant flow of ever-changing wording to captivate his youthful audience who are totally ab-sorbed in a fantasy world. Each of the fairy

tales in the repertoire incorporates a moral message, and Dion Robbins-Zust has re-vised a few of them to reflect todays living standards.

A typical performance begins with a welcoming introduction with live music and marionettes to engage the audience in the inherent nature of craft and movement of life. In the four years Dion has per-formed without his parents, Circ de Pup-pet and the Blue-Hand group were added as warm-up acts to get the audience in-volved. This year Dion has reintroduced his mother’s directive of singing songs with the kids just before the classic half-hour tale is performed.

In observing a performance of The Rob-bins-Zust Family Marionettes’ show, chil-dren sat in a state of awe watching these little marionettes glide across the imagina-tive home-made draped theater stage. A story about Jack and the Beanstalk was be-ing performed and every child under the tent appeared to be mesmerized by the ac-tions and voices.

At the end of the show the audience was invited backstage by Dion, who master-minded and coordinated both the move-ments and voices of the puppets. Dion, being his warm, hospitable, charming self welcomed any and all questions concern-ing the performance.

One such question was, “How do you keep the puppets separated so all of the strings don’t end up being tangled up?”

“Twist all the strings together, then wind the strand around the paddle when stored, and use fishing swivels so the strings can be disconnected,” he responded.

He summed it up best when he said, “Puppets can do things people can only dream about doing.”

“Live Fairytales,” performed five days a week this summer is a true celebration of life with their familiar repertoire: Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, The Firebird, Jack and the Beanstalk, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Peter and the Wolf, to name a few.

Scheduled performances run through Aug. 30.

Mondays through Thursdays, there are 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. shows at St. Paul’s Church at 29 Main St. in Stockbridge (across from the Red Lion Inn). Tickets are $5; group rates are available.

On Saturdays at 11 a.m., The Robbins-Zust Family Marionettes can be seen at Marketplace Cafe at 55 North St. in Pitts-field (next to Beacon Cinema) for free.

Jacob’s Pillow executive director reflects on 80 years of dance

The love of puppets is in the family

Ella Baff

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PITTSFIELD – For one week, downtown Pittsfield became the epicenter for all things spoken word.

From poetry and music perfor-mances to writing workshops, the WordXWord Festival hosted more than 40 events over eight days (Aug. 11-18).

“The festival went really well,” Festival Manager Bill Yehle told The Beacon after the festival. “Really, every single day was a highlight for me, and it seems ee-rily quiet around here now.”

Mr. Yehle was also impressed with the size and broad range of audiences.

“With only one or two excep-tions, events were filled to, or over, capacity,” he said. “Audi-ences were more diverse in terms of age and geography (more younger and older attendees, more attendees from Albany, north county and beyond).”

The participants also came from a diverse pool.

“There was a really nice bal-ance between participation of lo-cal/regional artists and the na-tionally-known authors,” Mr. Yehle said.

The featured visiting artists at the festival included Derrick C. Brown, Cristin O’Keefe Aptow-icz, Anis Mojgani, Robbie Q. Telfer, Thuli Zuma, Taylor Mali, Jon Sands, Jeanann Verlee and Megan Falley.

For Mr. Yehle, one of the high-lights of 2012’s WordXWord was the feature night at the Compu-Works Loft on Aug. 16.

“For me, personally, the high points would include the block-buster showcase night on Thurs-day, which featured six fantastic author/performers – any one of which would warrant their own

feature – in a single event,” he said.

Other highlights included a poetry slam at Shawn’s Barber-shop (where 15-year-old Heather Morris brought audience mem-bers to tears) and the presenta-tion “Some Good, Some Bad and Some Ugly” by Ms. Falley and Ms. O’Keefe Aptowicz at Pitts-field Bra and Girl.

“[They] shared openly about their start, growth and challenges as artists,” Mr. Yehle said.

The workshops, a lot of which were held at Y Bar, were also an important part of this year’s WordXWord.

“Having multiple-day residen-cies by the visiting artists allowed

for more qualitative interaction between the local audience and artists and the visiting artists [during] workshops, informal discussions and hanging out at the Writers Lounge at Y Bar – even sharing of the ‘stage’ in some cases,” he said.

Musical performances also were a key part of the festival, with many of them taking place at Mission Bar and Tapas, WordX-Word’s main sponsor, and The Lantern. Leo Crandall, Billy Ke-ane and the Misdemeanor Out-laws, Chris Merenda and the Wheel, John Brodeur and Tall Heights were among the musical acts that performed as part of WordXWord.

WordXWord fills Pittsfield with writers and musicians


PITTSFIELD – What do a West African story, a Yiddish lul-laby and a tale about a little Japa-nese prince have in common?

They were all part of a chil-dren’s program, “Stories of Sleep, Dreams and Starry Nights,” at the Berkshire Athenaeum .

Mary Jo Maichack, a teaching artist, singer, minstrel storyteller and guitar and ukulele player, presented the program to a cou-ple dozen summer-loving chil-dren and the adults who brought them to the library.

The program was part of the li-brary’s summer reading program, “Dream Big: Read!”

The entertainer has given more than 3,000 performances to young audiences since 1989 and has won numerous national awards for her singing and storytelling.

Sponsors make programs possible

Sponsors including the Friends of the Berkshires Athenaeum, Ben and Jerry’s, and Cybersta-tion, a video arcade at the Berk-shire Mall, make the children’s programming possible.

Now a Holyoke resident, Mrs. Maichack was born and raised in Pittsfield in a house on Jason Street. At that time, she was known as Mary Jo Danckert.

She gave an energetic, lively and interactive performance. She told The Beacon she grew up with two siblings in a house where there was lots of singing and storytelling.

An English major, Mrs. Maichack also spent a year as a children’s librarian, where she was introduced to the art of storytelling.

Has her own websiteHer website, MaryJoMaichack.

com, notes that she “loves people, music, story, languages, poetry, personal empowerment, her hus-band, artist Gregory Maichack and one fluffy cat.”

She told a story about people who lived in a West African rain forest, based on the book The Cow-Tail Switch and Other West African Stories by Harold Courlander.

Mrs. Maichack got the kids to get up and do the alligator stomp and they also danced to “ants in the pants and in a trance.”

An engaging performerDressed in black pants,a black

print shirt and sandals, Mrs. Maichack kept the children’s at-tention with lively expressions and hand movements. She swirled her arms in the air, scrunched up her face and laughed heartily while keeping the young audience engaged.

She accompanied herself on guitar while singing the Yiddish lullaby.

During another number, Mrs. Maichack had several children come in front of the audience to act out a play that involved a baby who refused to sleep at night. The kids went wild with laughter seeing their playmates wearing a bonnet, dog mask, thick goggles and other props.

She has numerous presenta-tions available for the public. For more information on the kinds of shows she presents, go to her website or call her directly at (413) 532-3667.May all your dreams come true

Mrs. Maichack mentioned the book, Stories to Play With, by Hiroko Fujita.

Besides children’s program-ming, she also entertains as a cab-aret singer and has performed at the Colonial Theater in Pittsfield.

She ended last week’s program by telling the children, “May all of your dreams come true.”

Anything is possible with the “fearless leader of fun” who has a “heart full of song and story.”

“Fearless leader of fun” entertains children at Berkshire Athaneum

Mary Jo Maichack

catherine m. Krummey / BerKShire Beacon

A large “WXW” sculpture outside of Mission Bar and Tapas celebrates the WordXWord Festival.

Call 413-637-2250

to Advertise in



Community Calendar FRIDAY, AUGUST 24

ST MARY’S SCHOOL CARNIVALAlford, 6 - 10 p.m.The carnival takes place at Lee Athletic Field on Housatonic St. (Route 20), across from Friend-ly’s, All Proceeds to benefit St. Mary’s School.

WRITERS READ Lee, 5:30 p.m.Writers Read is a monthly series of established poets and writers reading from their works. Each reading will feature a poet and writer reading from their works for approximately 30 minutes each. Good Purpose Gallery & Starving Artists Café, 40 Main St.

144TH ANNUAL CUM-MINGTON FAIRJoin us at Cummington Fair-grounds - Thurday through Sun-day, August 23rd through August 26th for the biggest and best little fair in the country! Enjoy rides, exhibits, games, dinners and performances.

LENOX LIBRARY BOOK SALELenox, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.The Lenox Library, 18 Main St., will host a weekend long book-sale. From 11 a.m. - 2 p.m., there is a $5 donation to enter, but af-ter 2 p.m. it’s free.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 25

ARTSCAPE HOSTS DOWNTOWN TOURSPittsfield, 1 p.m.Artscape will continue giving tours of downtown art. The

90-minute tours are led by artist Craig Langlois. The tour leaves the Pittsfield Visitors Center, lo-cated at the Colonial Theatre on 111 South St.

LECTURES/LITERARYLenox, 5 p.m.The Mount, Edith Wharton’s Home, 2 Plunkett St. Come hear why Wharton’s writings continue to captivate readers and win Wharton new fans. Each week professional actors present read-ings of Wharton’s works on the terrace. Wine and other refresh-ments available for purchase. Members: free; non-members: $5.

MADE IN AMERICA: ARTS & CRAFTS OF OUR HERITAGESheffield, 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. Made in America: Arts & Crafts of Our Heritage at the 1735 Ash-ley House on Cooper Hill Road. Come try out your skills, learn something new, and watch mas-ter artisans at work. Try your hand at a colonial recipe, spin-ning wool into yarn, caring for farm animals or dancing the minuet.

NORTH BERKSHIRE PAINT COLLECTIONSHinsdale, 9-4The Hinsdale paint shed is locat-ed at the Transfer Station on Longview Avenue. Open to resi-dents of Adams, Cheshire, Clarksburg, Florida, Hancock, Hinsdale, Lanesborough, New Ashford, Peru, Savoy, William-stown and Windsor.

THE EAGLES BANDPittsfield, 2 p.m.The Eagles Band will play a free show at EPOCH, located at 140 Melbourne Road.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26

TOWN PLAYERS OF PITTSFIELD’S PLAY READINGSPittsfield, 3 p.m.Town Players of Pittsfield pres-ents “Crossing the Line” by local playwright Jamuna Yvette Sirker, at the Lichtenstein Center for the Arts, 28 Renne Ave. For this staged reading, Sirker and direc-tor, Meredith McMillan have chosen to experiment with form by juxtaposing two one-acts.

MOMENTS HOUSE HOSTING FREE RE-STORATIVE YOGA AT ZAANTI Lenox, 4:15 - 5:45 p.m.Zaanti Yoga Studio, in coopera-tion with MOMENTS House, is hosting a free restorative yoga class for cancer patients, their families, friends and their care-givers. The classes will be held at Zaanti Yoga Studio at 449 Pitts-field Road.

MOTORAMANorth Adams, 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.Motorama! is back for its second year in downtown North Adams. Main, Holden and Eagle streets will be closed to all but pedestrian traffic as downtown North Ad-ams fills with hundreds of cars, trucks, motorcycles, snowmobiles and tractors. This vehicle show offers fun for everyone.

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

they were doing to address the issue.

“We’re pretty much prepared to go any way we have to [to fund the improvements],” said Select-man Lane.

Superintendent Vincent de-tailed the massive number of cap-ital improvements that will need to be made to Lenox’s water and sewer system over the next 10 years.

The most expensive of these improvements will involve re-placing the town’s aging pipes, some of which are 100 years old. Replacing the pipes is estimated to cost tens of millions of dollars, but Superintendent Vincent says that the process can be staggered over time.

The town will also need to up-grade its wastewater treatment plant in response to the new phosphorus limits predicted to be included in the DEP and EPA’s new permit for the plant, expect-ed to be issued this fall. The town is also constructing three new pump stations, the first of which is expected to be completed on New Lenox Road this fall. The cost of these pump stations is es-timated at $7 million.

Finally, the town is looking to replace aging equipment and in-crease capacity at its water treat-ment plant, in addition to look-ing for new water sources for the town.

In total, Town Manager Feder-spiel says that, including all of the pipe work, capital improvements to the town’s water and sewer sys-tem will cost the town $60 million.

This, combined with addition-al capital improvement needs from the town school system and public safety, will present a sub-stantial hurdle for the Town of Lenox in the coming years, to the possible tune of $80 million.

Town Manager Federspiel said the town would be addressing the water and sewer issue in three ways. Firstly, it would be retiring debt in the next five or six years to free up bonding capacity, second-ly, water and sewer rates will be increased, and finally, the town would look at possibly sharing services with Pittsfield.

Town Manager Federspiel said Lenox already shares some of its wastewater treatment with Pitts-field and there was already a good working relationship on which to build.

As for the debt being freed up, Town Manager Federspiel said

while $20 million would be freed up by 2018, half of that is school debt, which is being paid off with state aid.

This means the town will only be truly getting access to $10 mil-lion in bonding capacity.

“We’re at the early stages of fig-uring this out,” said Town Man-ager Federspiel, when asked by The Beacon how much debt the town would have to take on to pay for capital improvements.

Town Manager Federspiel did say, however, that the town would definitely have to utilize the $10 million of freed up bonding ca-pacity and would almost certainly have to exceed that.

The wild card in all of these calculations comes in the form of state or federal aid, which could change the calculus considerably.

“We would certainly apply,” said Town Manager Federsipel, when asked what the town would do in the event of a second wave of stimulus money becoming available.

Indeed, Superintendent Vin-cent, noting this infrastructure was built with state and federal dollars, believes higher levels of government should play a bigger role in these upgrades.

“Regionally, and [in] the state, and nationally we need to refocus our priorities,” said Superinten-dent Vincent.

“Nationally we need to rein-vest,” said Town Manager Feder-spiel, agreeing with the superin-tendent’s sentiments.

Still, even if the town had to pay for all of these capital im-provements at the same time, Town Manager Federspiel said Lenox does have the bonding ca-pacity to do so, while adding he didn’t think the citizenry could afford to take on so much debt.

“I would never do that,” said Town Manager Federspiel.

It is because the town officials and the select board would like to avoid a scenario like this that they are seriously discussing capital improvements now, and working on measures to soften their blow, such as the select board’s 10-year plan.

“We’re just gonna put our heads together…and see what we can do,” said Selectman Lane.

IMPROVEMENTS from page 1


Philip S. KampeBeacon Staff Writer

In 1981, visionary winemaker Ken Volk searched California’s central coast for land to establish a winery and selected the Temple-ton area for the home of Wild Horse Vineyard.

His reason for choosing the lo-cation is that it is midway on the central coast, which makes sourc-ing grapes from the north and south ideal. Templeton is close to Estero Bay, thus creating a proven groundwater table with easy-to-manage soil for grape growth.

Volk’s goal is to experiment with rare grape varieties and make small batches of atypical wines from the Paso Robles region.

His team’s leader, Clay Brock, general manager and director of winemaking, works closely with Head Winemaker Chrissy Witt-mann to create unheard wine blends from this region.

Recent grape varieties used in experimental Wild Horse wines include Blaufrankisch, Cabernet Franc, Grenache Blan, Malbec, Negrette, Malvasia Bianca, Verdelho and Touriga National.

At a recent lunch, Brock ex-plained that he is an extension of Volk’s vision. His goal is to make exceptional wines while experi-menting with different varietals. The classic wines in the Wild Horse collection include Char-donnay, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Viognier.

Wines from the portfolio are sold in four separate categories: Central Coast, Unbridled, Win-ery Exclusives and Cheval Sau-vage, which means “Wild Horse” in French.

The 44-acre vineyard is named as a tribute to the wild mustangs that used to roam on the hills above the vineyard.

Rumor has it that the vineyard

is named after the Cal Poly mas-cot—a galloping horse. Both Volk and Brock are Cal Poly Alumni.

Wines are produced from the estate grapes as well as grapes sourced from over 40 different vineyards in the area and up to 30 different varietals. Sixty five per-cent of the vineyard’s production includes Chardonnay, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Pinot Noir.

Three wines to tryThe 2010 Wild Horse Unbri-

dled Chardonnay Bien Nacido Vineyards is an elegant, lightly-oaked wine that accompanied my first course when dining with Brock at New York’s A Voce res-taurant at Columbus Circle. The lively Chardonnay paired perfect-ly with the hard-to-match pasta with barnacles appetizer that I ordered.

Maybe it was the richness and balanced acidity of this apple, lemony wine that made the match feel like it was made in heaven. Brock ordered the same appetizer and knew the wine and pasta were made for each other.

At $20 a bottle, the 2010 Un-bridled Chardonnay is a true steal.

The 2010 Wild Horse Unbri-dled Pinot Noir Santa Barbara is a beautifully lush, silky, 14.5 per-cent alcohol upscale wine that made my lamb belly entrée taste better than it really was.

Possibly the mix of raspberries, cherries and cinnamon contrib-uted to the velvety tannins and minerality in this bargain-priced $34 bottle of wine.

The 2008 Wild Horse Cheval Sauvage is a Pinot Noir at the highest level. The cranberry and strawberry concentration is mind boggling on the palate.

Add full-bodied, balance and lushness to the menu and you have a wine that can stand on its own without the consumption of food.

The aromas of dense red fruit, coupled with a richness on the palate, make the long-lasting fin-ish memorable. The 2008 Cheval Sauvage should rank in the top tier of west coast wines.

The Wild Horse round-up

Wine and Beyond:


With the one year anniversary coming this weekend, what better time to talk about Good Night Irene Ale.

Long Trail Brewing Company will re-release Goodnight Irene Ale, a limited edition brown ale that supports the Vermont Food Bank and the Vermont Farm Di-saster Relief Fund.

Long Trail developed and first released Goodnight Irene Ale in September 2011, in conjunction with Farrell Distributing Co, and raised over $10,000 for the two charities last fall to help the peo-ple of Vermont recover after Hur-ricane Irene.

“Vermont has come a long way since the devastation of Hurri-cane Irene last summer,” said Bri-an Walsh, CEO of Long Trail Brewing.

“By re-introducing Goodnight Irene Ale, Long Trail continues to support the recovery effort by do-ing what we do best: brewing quality beer.

Last year, we exclusively re-

leased Goodnight Irene in Ver-mont, and this year we are proud to introduce it in New Hamp-shire, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylva-nia so that more people will be able to taste this excellent beer while supporting Vermont’s re-covery efforts.”

Goodnight Irene Ale, an easy drinking brown ale, features cara-mel and chocolate malts balanced by a subtle, floral hop bitterness.

Long Trail has brewed a limited quantity of Goodnight Irene Ale and it will be available in bars and restaurants across these states through out the later part of Summer and into early Fall.

In addition, Long Trail has brought back its popular Good-night Irene T-shirts, which sold out within days of their release last Fall.

“Goodnight Irene Ale is a way for us to keep reaching out to help our fellow Vermonters,” said CEO Brian Walsh .

“We are making a portion of our proceeds available to the VT Farm Disaster Relief and the Ver-

mont Food Bank. Long Trail Brewing Company wishes all of our friends and neighbors hit by Hurricane Irene a safe and speedy recovery.”

Mass Brew FestThe third annual Massachu-

setts Brewers Festival will take place on Friday, Aug. 24th from 6 p.m. to 9:30pm at the World Trade Center Head House Con-course on the South Boston waterfront.

The World Trade center is a beautiful indoor/outdoor venue with great views of Boston and a perfect setting for a summertime beer fest.

You can sample 80-plus beers from 30 Massachusetts breweries and this event is always packed.

Some of those on tap include Cambridge Brewing Company, Cape Cod Beer and Opa Opa Brewing Company.

Tickets are $40 at the door and $35 in advance, and the festival has sold out the last two years.

This festival is widely consid-ered to be a good time and is sure to please.

Long Trail CEO Brian Walsh presents a check to the Vermont Community Foundation for the money that had raised from last years Good Night Irene Ale. The beer is being re-released this fall as well.

The hurricane of beers is back on shelves this year


Girl-2-GirlTwo sides

Janel M. HarrisonBeacon Staff Writer

“I’ll get you my pretty!”Hi Girls! Choo-choo and hello

again, New York! We are definite-ly becoming great friends!

It’s our now nine-year-old daughter’s dream birthday gift to experience the Big Apple, Broad-way and the majestic Gershwin Theatre’s award-winning musical Wicked – yay (writer clapping hands)!

We are beyond ecstatic, not to mention we’ll stop in the Ameri-can Girl Doll store so Felicity and Kit can get their ears pierced. Hopefully they don’t start to bleed and have to be treated at the American Girl Doll Hospital. I hear it can cost ya, but whatever makes them happy, for I love to see them smile…

Wicked, a book by Winnie Hol-zman with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, is based on the 1995 Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, running parallel to our known, beloved story The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. The movie taught us that somewhere over the rain-bow bluebirds fly and unknown lands await us, or perhaps some-where after the rain we find hope and promise, and beyond the rainbow we find heaven where our precious angels wait…

I can’t wait to learn the story of the witches of Oz, because I’ve never read the book and when I think about the screenplay and the story’s premise it makes me think there really is another side to every story, and often we don’t think about what that is, do we?

We think about our side and how we feel. In movies and books we root for the good characters, and when we see these bad char-acters, we almost never think what led to their own demise, and often the story doesn’t say.

What made them fall from grace? Were they hurt? Abused? Heartbroken? Weak? And unable to deal with life’s adversities be-cause they always come?

What about our relationships and the men of our past who have

broken our hearts and left us for dead, many times unknowing of the deep emotion and pain they brought upon us. So now let us look to the other side… how do they feel while they are taking us for a ride?

Are they tearfully unsure, something missing, longing to see the world far away; maybe they just aren’t ready for what life will deal out to them under the inevi-table circumstances of details and travesties?

It’s too much to struggle with their own demons? Or maybe they just don’t care enough or love enough?

If the break-up happened it happened for a reason, right? No matter how much you may have loved, was he just not right for you?

I’m speaking about my girl-friend and this beast of guy who won’t leave her alone… well, he knows a good thing I guess.

But seriously what’s his story of why he is the way he is? What happened to him anyway? And will he ever learn?

I know a woman who for some reason wishes to leave havoc wherever she goes. What hap-pened to her and will she ever find peace and see the light?

I try to pray for these people and believe me sometimes it’s a daunting task, but who are we to judge?

One thing I find is these people can lead us to another place; I love the song “There’s A Place for Us,” originally from West Side Story.

Just a thought, but perhaps they’re there to help us build character, move forward until we find all it is we’re looking for, un-til we find our life… It doesn’t al-ways seem that way, I know, but it is true, and should we even think to thank them?

Should Dorothy thank her arch-nemesis, the Wicked Witch of the West, for making her stron-ger and enabling her to grow up and realize there’s no place like home? Why not?

It’ll be fun to find out.

-Ciao Bella


If I ever have kids (some day, but not too soon), I am going to sit them down when they’re eight or nine and watch ParaNorman with them.

ParaNorman isn’t just one of the best films of the year, it’s the best animated film since Up.

ParaNorman is the second fea-ture length offering from stop-motion animation studio Laika, which burst onto the scene in 2009 with its fantastic adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline.

ParaNorman tells the story of Norman Babcock (voiced by Kodi Smit-McPhee), an 11-year-old boy living in the small town of Blithe Hollow, Mass. Norman can see and talk to ghosts, al-though no one believes him when he says so. This causes Norman to become distant from his family, tormented by his classmates and distrusted by the townsfolk.

When a long-dead witch’s curse threatens Blithe Hollow, howev-er, it’s only Norman who can con-front it and attempt to put things right.

It’s impressive just how com-pletely ParaNorman succeeds as a movie.

ParaNorman contains one of the best and most honest portray-als of childhood bullying and os-tracization I’ve seen on screen. Rather than sensationalizing it or

making it a minor part of the sto-ry and then ditching it once the second act starts, Norman’s lone-liness and isolation are key touch-stones of the film.

Norman isn’t the most tor-mented kid in history, and his family isn’t the worst, but that doesn’t make any difference to Norman, just as it wouldn’t to any bullied child. This gives Para-Norman a genuine quality that will be appreciated by adults and kids alike.

ParaNorman also contains one of the most effective statements against intolerance I’ve seen in a children’s movie.

Then there’s how fearlessly ParaNorman delves into dark places.

Children’s movies, unlike chil-dren’s books, tend to avoid un-pleasent and scary material, skirt-ing around the edges at best and talking down to their audience at worst. Not so for ParaNorman, which tackles some dark and un-comfortable themes while still re-maining entertaining and child-appropriate.

But what really makes this movie a winner is its fresh and original plot and how it manages to tie everything together so well.

From story to pacing to charac-ter development, ParaNorman promises a lot and delivers every time. Out of the films I’ve seen this year, only Cabin in the Woods can rival ParaNorman in

pleasantly defying audience ex-pectations. Indeed, the film con-sistently avoids the common chil-dren’s media trap of simplification.

ParaNorman is also visually marvelous. Stop-motion anima-tion can sometimes feel like an endangered art form, but films like this hammer home just how vibrant and dynamic the medium is, especially when combined with 3D technology.

It should also be noted that, de-spite their similarities, Coraline and ParaNorman are quite differ-ent, both aesthetically and in tone.

For instance, while Coraline had many scary parts, it was also a very pretty film. By contrast, ParaNorman perfectly evokes the small town/suburban life by hav-ing everything be just a tad bit grotesque.

Finally, the movie benefits from an excellent script, performed by some top notch voice acting tal-ent, including John Goodman, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Jodelle Ferland.

Bottom line, if you want to see a smart, well-made, bold piece of movie making, go see ParaNor-man. And if you have kids, take them to it. Provided they can sit through a few scary parts, Para-Norman is one of those rare mov-ies with a story you’ll all love and a message that will resonate with everyone.

ParaNorman is the perfect movie for kids

credit: FocuS FeatureS


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WILLIAMSTOWN – The Williams College women’s cross country team has qualified for all 19 NCAA Championships since NESCAC permitted post-season team competition in 1993. This fall the Ephs look to extend their streak to 20 years.

Thirteen times Williams has finished in the top five at the NCAA Championships, winning the title in 2002 and 2004.

Head Coach Pete Farwell will enter his 13th year at the helm of the Ephs and will have four of his top seven runners back from the 2011 NCAA Division III Cham-pionship race, where the Ephs finished third behind champion Washington University (MO) and Middlebury.

Two top-seven runners were lost to graduation in Olivia Delia, who was the third Eph across the line at the NCAAs, and Lauren Goldstein-Kral, who was the sixth-fastest Eph in that race.

The biggest loss from the 2011 team, however, was not to gradu-ation, but to the prestigious Wil-

liams-Oxford Junior Year Abroad Program, which has claimed Chi-ara Del Piccolo, the NCAA Divi-sion III champion in 2011.

Del Piccolo closed out 2011 winning her last five races and be-coming just the second Eph woman to win the NCAA race, joining Jess Caley (‘98), who won in 1995.

Del Piccolo topped the NCAA field of 222 runners and won by a large five-second margin last No-vember in Winneconne, Wis.

“We’ll miss the experience and racing ability of Olivia and Lau-ren, who were wonderful four-year athletes on our squad,” said Farwell. “Chiara’s performances were outright phenomenal in that championship month last year, and it will certainly affect our team score not to have that one point up top, but we have plenty of veteran all-conference runners, up-and-coming potential stars and a great team.”

Headlining the list of returnees from last year’s NCAA team is sophomore Alison Smith, who finished 33rd overall and fourth-fastest among freshmen. Smith was the Ephs’ second finisher be-

hind Del Piccolo at the NCAA race. Her finish in the top 35 earned Smith All-American honors.

Senior co-captain Celeste Berg was the fourth Eph to finish at the 2011 NCAAs when she came in 75th. Three seconds behind Berg was junior Shayna Barbash, who came in 79th. Sophomore Anna Spiers was the seventh Eph finisher, coming in 110th.

Barbash was the Ephs’ third fin-isher at the NCAA-New England Qualifier when the Ephs punched their ticket to the NCAA Cham-pionship race with a second place team finish. Barbash finished in 13th place.

Spiers, 18th across the line and the fourth Eph finisher, led a Wil-liams trio that took places 18-20 at the NCAA–New England Qualifier. Smith finished 19th and Celeste Berg was 20th at the qualifier.

At the first championship meet last season, the Little Three at Amherst, the Ephs won the title comfortably by placing five run-ners in the top seven and eight in

Williams is coming off a great season that featured their 19th straight trip to the NCAA Championships.

William’s XC team is ready to run for another title

see WILLIAMS page 18


decent players coming back and we have some talent, but we are really inexperienced.”

The offensive line will be the biggest question mark for the ‘Cats this season, as only senior Preston Webb returns to man both the defensive and offensive line. Unfortunately for the Wild-cats, Webb will miss the begin-ning of the season as he continues to recover from a foot injury he suffered during the baseball season.

“We will have some other kids who will have an opportunity to step up,” Thomson said.

One of those kids expected to step up on the line was last year’s JV standout Vinny Onorato.

“We were happy with his prog-ress at the JV level, and we think he can be a big help up front,” Thomson said of Onorato.

The quarterback position ap-pears to be filled by junior Dea-glan Giarolo, the big righty ap-

pears to have a strong arm and has developed physically to be a top-rated high school quarter-back for the next two years.

Matty Kelly, a kick-returner last year, will be moved to run-ning back this season and is ex-pected to carry the load offensive-ly for the ‘Cats. Complimenting him in the backfield will be big senior captain Cam Collins and Ryan Hurley.

Collins is also moving from the wide receiver position and will see his first time in the backfield for Thomson.

“It’s always a competition and it’s always a process,” Thomson said. “We are excited to see what he can do in the backfield, we have decent depth in the back-field so we are excited to see how it will all pan out.”

Giarolo will focus on targets Jared Kirchner at tight end, and Zach DeSantis at receiver, while Lee will use a multiple offensive set, with either split backs in the backfield or their conventional

wishbone or eye formation.“The team determines the pass-

ing game so we will have to wait and see, and determine and eval-uate our passing game from game to game,” Thomson added.

Other players who are expected to contribute for the ‘Cats are se-nior defensive lineman Tim Lep-rovist and Lenox seniors Marin Delic and Logan Flynn, who both appear physically and athlet-ically, to be an asset for Thom-son’s crew.

“We think they are going to contribute,” said Thomson of his Lenox seniors.

Lee opens their season Sept. 8 at Hoosac, and will be a tough test as pre-season polls have Hoo-sac, who went 8-3 last year to be one of the toughest teams in the county, against the inexperienced Wildcats.

Tim DavisBeacon Staff Writer

GREAT BARRINGTON - Monument Mountain football continues to be a work in prog-ress. While the wins haven’t piled up yet, the football program has continued to show signs of life, from the Pee Wee youth pro-grams to this year’s high school team, which consists of 20 fresh-man and 16 sophomores.

“I try not to look at it by the year, but that we are continuing to make progress,” said Head Coach Todd Tinker. “When the youth program started we had 11 kids, today we have 45 kids (at the high school camp).”

Tinker will rely heavily on his senior core of returning players, especially All-Berkshire County linebacker Jesse Dupont, Matt Morardi, Brandon Curtin and Adam Vincent.

Vincent will anchor the offen-sive line at center, and Tinker, “expects quality things” out of Mt. Everett seniors Nick Vance, and Aaron Martin.

“We have some quality older leadership,” Tinker said. “I think we are in our best pre-season shape since I’ve been here.”

Offensively, the Spartans will rely heavily on returning junior

quarterback Riley O’Brien. “He has taken some nice steps with his off-season training,” Tinker said of O’Brien.

Behind O’Brien, Tinker will use a running back by committee to start the season, in hope some-one materializes as the clear-cut leader.

“I am sure in a couple of weeks we will see some kids step up,” Tinker said of his backfield. “We have some new kids we are really impressed with.”

The Spartans will rely on a tra-ditional running game to start the season utilizing an off-set-eye or power eye in the backfield.

“We are going to balance our attack a little more,” Tinker said. “We got some ideas (for the of-fense), and we got them on paper, we just need to see how it goes in the next couple of days and see how the guys respond.”

A unique approach Tinker has immediately instilled in this year’s team is the concept of unity and a sense of “family” according to the head coach.

“We are a family, our philoso-phy is if someone makes a mis-take or a mental error, we all work on it,” Tinker said.

A great example of this concept

Spartans football coming together

as “family”

tim daviS / BerKShire Beacon

Monument Mountain football players run a hill during the first day of practice.

see SPARTANS page 19

the top 10. Del Piccolo led, by claiming first place, with Barbash third and junior Leslie Blackshear in fourth.

Alison Smith was fifth and Lauren Goldstein-Kral took sev-enth, while Spiers came in just two seconds behind Goldstein-Kral to finish eighth. Brianne Mirecki captured 10th place and became the team’s valuable alter-nate for the NCAA meet.

“Celeste and Brianne bring tre-mendous leadership and work ethic to their roles as co-captains this year,” said Farwell, “And they back it up with the ability to compete at the highest level, al-ways giving and achieving their maximum. “

Junior Leslie Blackshear was sidelined by injury after the Little Three meet, but had led the team in many workouts and meets up until then.

“We’ll be looking for her to re-turn to our scoring pack, as she has been working hard on her conditioning all summer,” Far-well said.

Other top candidates to join the top seven include those who placed sixth, seventh, ninth and 12th, respectively at the 2011 ECAC Division III Champion-ships: junior Kaleigh Kenny and sophomores Molly Malinowski, Talia Calnek-Sugin and Amelia Ortiz.

“Kaleigh was a most pleasant surprise in that meet, coming out

of nowhere, and she continued her rise with great 3k racing dur-ing the track season, as did Ame-lia in the 10k,” said Coach Far-well. “Molly and Talia improved all season, and look to be even better prepared this year.”

One or two freshmen from a talented incoming class may move into the top seven, and a group of first-years will provide additional team depth within the “Second Seven.”

Based on their high school re-sults these are likely to be Meg Richardson, Anna Ryba, Sophie Chatas, Kathryn McNaughton and Lacey Serletti.

“I see Middlebury, defending region champions, plus MIT and Amherst as the top contenders from New England, and we will vie with them for berths at the NCAA Championship,” said Farwell.

“While we are in the best wom-en’s cross country conference (NESCAC) and region (New England) within NCAA Division III, we are perennially in the top two or three, and can be again, with this contingent of talented and dedicated team-spirited harriers.”

The Ephs will open their 37th varsity season on the road when they compete in the Vassar Invi-tational on Sept. 8 and follow that with the home Purple Valley Classic 20-team invitational, fea-turing nationally-ranked teams from four regions.

WILDCATS from page 20

WILLIAMS from page 17

Alison Smith

Celeste Berg

Shayna Barbash


Dick SyriacBeacon Staff Writer

I recall the day I was hitting range balls toward the baseball grandstand back in the day when that was the practice facility for Taconic Golf Club in Williamstown.

Hit an eight iron to medium right field, a four iron around sec-ond base and a good driver could get the grandstand. I was testing a demo club and was pretty proud of the fact that I could occasion-ally bounce one off the first base dugout.

The year was 1993. A young boy with a few clubs in hand walked by and set up shop a few spaces from me. When he struck the ball I was impressed by the sound that the ball made jump-ing off his club so I turned to get a closer look.

He looked about 10 years old (he was actually 13), and his tee ball was still rising as it cleared the grandstand. If you ever found a golf ball in the parking lot at The Purple Pub, Joey Pohle prob-ably hit it there.

Dad works at TaconicJoey’s dad, Rick, the head PGA

golf professional at Taconic Golf Club, certainly had given this kid some serious instruction. Joey was a student at Mt. Greylock and was a member of the golf team when he was in the seventh grade. Throughout his Greylock years he was one of the top play-ers in the county and in western Massachusetts. He also excelled in hockey.

After dominating the competi-tion in high school, Joey Pohle was off to Division I University of Rhode Island. At URI he was joined by some very talented teammates with Berkshire Coun-ty and western Massachusetts roots. As a freshman he teamed with Lee native Jim Salinetti and Greenfield’s Josh Hillman to form one of the strongest golf teams ever assembled on the Kingston, R.I., campus. Other members of the squad included Mike Sims and Justin Thompson.

After URIAfter their college years these

young men would continue to be involved with golf and the golf industry. Salinetti, one of the top amateur golfers to ever come out

of Berkshire County, is the head PGA professional at Winchester Country Club, Hillman is the top guy at Berkshire Hills in Pittsfield and Thompson is the director of golf at Wanderers Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla., while we can look for Sims on the leader board on the Web.com tour.

Where is Joey Pohle? He left URI after his freshman season.

“He enjoyed the competition and his teammates at URI but be-ing on a full scholarship limited his other activities,” said his mother, Cathy, from her office at Taconic Golf Club. “He wanted to play some intramural sports and that was not allowed at URI because of the financial aid he was getting. He wanted to play volleyball and continue to play hockey so he decided to transfer to Skidmore in Saratoga, N.Y. where he could engage in those activities.”

“We hated to see Joey transfer but he was doing what was best for him,” his former teammate Hillman added. “It was ironic that I eventually worked under his dad at Taconic. He went on to play some great golf at Skidmore and we had no doubt that he would that he would be successful.”

After a very successful career at Skidmore he stayed on campus and took a job in the admissions office. While there, he applied for the head coaching job of the golf team and was not chosen for the position.

A new positionLet’s fast forward to 2012,

when Indian Valley Country Club in Telford, Pa., was elated to announce the hiring of their new head PGA golf professional, Joey Pohle. Indian Valley is a William Gordon-designed par 72 layout

constructed in 1952 that mea-sures 6,900 yards and currently has 500 members.

Ralph Richardson, who for 12 years has been the general man-ager at Indian Valley, was sold on Pohle as soon as he met him.

“Joey blew us away during the interview process,” he said. “Very polite and professional, a great teacher and an accomplished player, but what really made him stand out were the countless ref-erences we received from people who knew him and who had in-teracted with him in the golf business.”

Pohle’s resume was certainly impressive. He had worked at some of the finest clubs in the greater Philadelphia area. In 2007, he was at Merion Golf Club and Chester Valley, and he also spent time at Wee Burn Country Club. He was the head professional at Militia Hill at the Philadelphia Cricket Club before taking the job at Indian Valley.

Pohle had also garnered some attention playing in the greater Philadelphia section of the PGA. In 2007, he bested a field of 72 to win the Assistants Champion-ship, and in 2009, he won the TPD Section Title to top 120 fel-low professionals.

Works with sisterJoey is joined on the Indian

Valley golf shop staff by his very talented sister, Becky, who is the golf shop manager. She joined her brother after spending three years at Philadelphia Country Club.

She is an award-winning mer-chandiser and adds a nice touch to the displays in the shop. Becky was educated at Elmira College in New York, and before moving to the Philly area, she spent some time in Virginia.

“Joey and I have an excellent relationship; working with him is great,” she added as she was pre-paring to host 116 golfers for a Wednesday afternoon member-guest.

As for her playing ability, in limited action: “I play about six times a year and I usually break 100.”

Joey Pohle enjoys the Philadel-phia area and takes in many Fly-ers and Phillies games.

His wife, Colleen, a Philly na-tive, and six-month-old son, Gavin, keep him pretty busy.


NORTH ADAMS – The MCLA men’s soccer team was se-lected sixth in the preseason MASCAC poll, as recently an-nounced by the league offices.

The Trailblazers return 18 play-ers from last season’s 5-10-1 club.

The Rams of Framingham State were selected as the pre-season favorite.

Framingham State, which claimed both the conference reg-ular season and tournament titles last fall, captured five first place votes to amass 57 points and top second place Salem State’s total of 53 points that included two first place votes.

Bridgewater State is next in third place with 47 points, while Westfield State and Worcester State (which received the other first place vote) follow in fourth

and fifth place with 43 and 36 points, respectively.

After MCLA with 22 points, Massachusetts Maritime and Fitchburg State round out in the poll in seventh and eighth place, respectively, with 19 and 11 points.

The Trailblazers, under the di-rection of Adam Hildabrand, en-ter the 2012 campaign with high hopes. MCLA posted just a 1-5-1 record in MASCAC play a year ago; however three defeats were by just a single goal.

The team returns both of their leading scorers in Jake McCall and Joseph Mecca. The two se-niors each scored three goals last season.

MCLA will kick off the 2012 season on Aug. 31 against New-bury in the Norwich Cadet kick-off classic. MASCAC league play begins on Sept. 15 when MCLA travels to Salem State.

is when the team lines up in a three-point stance and works at exploding off the line during a snap count at practice. If a player makes a mistake, the entire team does push-ups or squats - includ-ing the coaches.

“You lead by example and a big thing for us this year is disci-pline,” Tinker said. “A philoso-phy that was taught to me was you do the little things right, you don’t expect to be a great football team without doing the little things.”

Tinker has worked with his brother, Preston, the president of the youth football program, to develop a unified system where younger players will be adept to

the high school football program, including plays and skills that fit into Tinker’s style and philosophy.

“I really like what is going on with the youth league,” Tinker added. “When I took over, our first job was to get everyone on the same page, from the Pee Wees all the way through so we become a feeder program.”

“When we took over (the youth program) everyone was running a different offense. We decided let’s get the offense together and de-velop a program that carries all the way down,” Tinker said. “They have good numbers (in youth football) and the Senior League played in a championship game recently, and that’s encouraging.”

SPARTANS from page 18

MCLA ready to kick-off season

Pohle still a local golf legend Berkshire Sports Guy:

Joey Phole


Experienced • Dedicated • Leadership

ScottPIGNATELLIRegister of Deeds

Please VOTE on Thursday, September 6Paid for by the Committee to Elect Scott Pignatelli

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August 9, 2012Volume III, Issue 12

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NORTH ADAMS – How-ard “Jake” Eberwein III has of-fi cially moved on from his days as superintendent of the Pittsfi eld Public Schools.

On Tuesday, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) announced that Dr. Eberwein is the school’s new dean of graduate and continu-ing education.

“I look forward to working collaboratively with the MCLA leadership team, fac-ulty and community in ex-panding high quality educa-tional opportunities for the

citizens of Berkshire County and beyond,” he said.

Dr. Eberwein received his master’s degree in education from MCLA in 2003 and earned his principal certifi ca-

Church on the Hill to get some repairs

- Page 2


Index

Major changes for area cancer care


PITTSFIELD – David E. Phelps, President and CEO of Berkshire Health Systems (BHS), announced plans last week for a comprehensive and state-of-the-art cancer center to be located at the Hillcrest Campus of Berkshire Medical Center (BMC).

The huge project is being planned in partnership with Berkshire Hematology/On-cology, the area’s largest pri-vate medical practice.

Mr. Phelps said both part-ners are extremely committed and share the same vision.

Berkshire Health Systems is this area’s largest employer.

The $30 million project will include extensive renovations and a new entryway at Hill-crest for the BMC Cancer Center.

A total of $20.1 million is earmarked for renovations to the existing buildings as well

as for the new entryway and lobby. A total of $10 million will be used to buy new equip-ment and electronic record systems.

The center will be four sto-ries high and 49,930-square feet.

According to information released by BHS, the renova-tion and new construction will include a new entrance and lobby, a Wellness Center, a Ra-diation Oncology and Multi-

disciplinary Clinic, Hematol-ogy/Oncology Physician Practice, a full clinical labora-tory, a pharmacy, infusion and treatment service, and radia-tion therapy.

Phase I will begin in early 2013, Phase II in the fall of that year and Phase III in 2014.

The center will provide a new view on cancer care in

Dick SyriacBeacon Sports Writer

The year was 1974 and as a member of the publicity de-partment at Green Mountain Race Track, I was looking for a scoop.

In the company of the track photographer Ernie LeClair, I was patrolling the barn area in quest of a picture that might make the national wires. A shot of a horse getting hosed

down would not cut it, a horse munching on a bale of hay, no, I don’ t think so.

As we came upon a shed row, we both knew we had hit the mother lode. We saw a seven-year-old boy with bushy red hair sitting on a horse with his I.D. badge on. Click, click we got the shot and it went, as they now say, viral.

Both wire services used the

Local man makes the races run

see TRACK page 2 see CENTER page 7

SuSan m. WicKer guerrero / BerKShire Beacon

The current Hillcrest Hospital Campus will soon undergo massive changes.

artiSt rendering

This is a drawing of the proposed cancer center to be located at the Hillcrest Campus of BMC.

Eberwein named dean at MCLA

see MCLA page 3

Howard Eberwein III

Ken Retzel has worked with horses his whole life.

1 Local News 6 Editorial6 From the Tower8 Shelter Pets9 Fast Picks10 Books10 Calendar11 Tax Free Specials12 Beer & Wine13 Movies 13 Girl-2-Girl14 Sports

COMING SOON

Tim DavisBeacon Staff Writer

LEE- In high school football, great teams come and go as quickly as the leaves change color in the fall air.

The challenge for this year’s Lee Wildcats, who lost an un-precedented 18 seniors, will be to try and rekindle some of last sea-son’s magic of their 10-3 season and Western Massachusetts Su-per Bowl appearance.

“Last season was a very success-ful year for us, we tied a school record with 10 wins before losing to an undefeated Mt. Greylock,” said Lee Head Coach Keith Thomson. “We are really starting from scratch this year.”

The Wildcats lose 10 out of 11 starters on defense, and four out of the five starting offensive line-men, including the entire offen-sive backfield and quarterbacks.

“The last couple of years we have been very successful and it’s always tough to see the kids go, “ Thomson added. “We have some

Wildcats may have to rebuild after Super Bowl

tim daviS / BerKShire Beacon

Lee Head Coach Keith Thomson addresses his team during the first day of practice.see WILDCATS page 18

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