EDITORIAL

Editorial: Our River and Our Roads

It’s over. The petition of the Housatonic River Initiative (HRI) was denied by the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and Tim Gray, HRI Executive Director, said they will not appeal.

The result? There will be a PCB dump in Lee, the money will be distributed, the dredging up of the polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)will begin, and the trucks will roll.

Trucks? Yes. Whatever PCB-laden muck is dredged up will be moved from the river to the Lee dump by trucks. The agreement upheld by the court says more than one million cubic yards of sediment with lower levels of PCBs will be dredged up, loaded on trucks, moved, and dumped in a hole in the ground in Lee.

A dump truck has a capacity of ten to fourteen cubic yards, so how many trucks will it take to transport one million cubic yards? Approximately 85,000. An American football field is 120 yards by 53 yards (including the end zones). How long will it take to dredge and transport that volume? Years. It is years of dredging and loading, and thousands of trucks driving our country roads.

Once a member of ROR told a Stockbridge audience that “none of this will affect Stockbridge.” Boy, was he wrong. Imagine the impact on local life and our tourist economy of all those trucks.

There is an idea about an alternative. Transport more than one million cubic yards of PCBs to the dump site by train. Ease the assault on roadbeds and traffic. Actually, that was the original plan — call it the Obama administration agreement.

The Obama administration agreement had the PCBs on a train. That train transported them to a PCB approved commercial storage and disposal site outside of Berkshire County. No part of that original agreement had PCBs buried in land bordered by the Housatonic River, Woods Pond, Woodland Road, and Willow Hill Road.

It was the second agreement — call it the Trump administration agreement — that has the PCBs dumped in Lee in the exact location once chosen as a secondary water supply.

But, wait, if we got the PCBs on a train...

Carole Owens
Executive Editor

 

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Photo: Lionel Delevingne

 NEWS

SU FYI

A Celebration

Wednesday night, September 20, there was a celebration of the Stockbridge-Munsee band’s return to Stockbridge. August 1818: John Sergeant wrote in his journal, “About one third of my church and one fourth of the tribe (70 souls) started from this place for White River." Now 205 years later, with closure on the purchase of “Fenn Farm”, the Stockbridge-Munsee have returned.

The celebration was held at the Norman Rockwell Museum.

 

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Joe Miller and Sherry White of the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohicans enjoy a moment with Rick Wilcox. Photo: Patrick White

A Discussion

The League of Women Voters Central Berkshire Chapter held a fun and educational event at the Stockbridge Library on the evening of September 20. It was a discussion led by Josh Hall and called Martin Luther King and the Struggle for Black Voting Rights.

It was based on the Case Method Institute materials developed at Harvard. Everyone seemed engaged and enlightened. SU hopes LWV will continue these discussions about voting as we enter a pivotal year in American government — the election of 2024.

Vaccines

The Southern Berkshire Public Health Collaborative will have two vaccine clinics in Stockbridge:

9/25/2023 Heaton Court from 11am — 1pm: Register here

10/6/2023 Stockbridge Town Hall from 11am — 1pm: Register here

South County Clinics: A full list of South County Clinics can be found at www.sb-phc.org and appointments can be made at home.color.com/vaccine/register/tritown

Both the September and October clinics are no-cost.

1. You will be asked to show your insurance card to help support the ongoing vaccine program.

2. In order to ensure we order the correct amount of vaccine; we are asking that you pre-register as soon as possible. This is especially important as we start the process for purchasing COVID vaccine.

VACCINE UPDATES

• FLU VACCINE: We will have both normal and senior dose available. Limited egg-free may be available by calling 413 717 7209 and reserving a dose.
• WHAT TO BRING: Please bring your insurance card and wear a short-sleeved shirt.
• COVID VACCINE UPDATE: We are working to get the updated COVID vaccine ordered ASAP. As soon as we know when we will be receiving doses, we will add COVID vaccine to the clinic and will notify existing registrants on how to add a COVID vaccine to their existing appointment.
• RSV VACCINE UPDATE: We will not be providing RSV this year. We suggest going to CVS or your primary care physician.

PREREGISTRATION INFORMATION

Preregistration is the only way that we know how many vaccines and staff to bring to the clinic and so we are asking people to please register ASAP so we can plan accordingly.

Here are some registration tips:

• When listing your name: Please register using the same name configuration that is on your insurance card.
• Medicare Part B: Most individuals 65+ that live in South County have “Medicare Part B of Massachusetts” and you can just type it in to find it easily.
• Blue Cross Blue Shield: Most Blue Cross plans in MA are listed under “Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts” and you can just type it in to find it easily.
• Program kicking back your insurance? No worries, just click “No insurance” option and bring your card to the clinic and we are happy to help!
• Need help registering or need a home-bound vaccine? Call Jill Sweet at 413 717 7209 or jill@tritownhealth.org
• Looking for COVID Vaccine? Updated Pfizer COVID vaccine for 12 and older will be added to our clinics as soon as it becomes available. People who had already have an appointment for a flu vaccine in October can easily add COVID before or at the clinic.
• Can’t make this clinic? There are many more coming up! Please see list below and register at https://home.color.com/vaccine/register/tritown by picking the name of the desired clinic.

Need help pre-registering? Contact Jill Sweet at 413 717 7209

 

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Photo: Richard Lasner

 NEWS

Events

Take note: The ukuleles will no longer be at the Senior Center on Tuesdays. Starting September 28, 2023, they will gather on Thursday evenings. Go and play or go and just listen.

Take note: Something special at the Stockbridge Library, Saturday afternoon. 3pm. Matthew B. Mandel, MD founder of Volunteers in Medicine (VIM) with his fellow board member, Patricia Hubbard, will speak. Learn about their years of laudable work providing medical and dental services to those who could not otherwise afford them. Learn about their first clinic in Great Barrington and their current expansion to Pittsfield.

The Stockbridge Land Trust will hold its Annual Meeting Saturday, September 30th at 10:00am at the Chestnut Preserve, on Route 7, south of Town. Light refreshments. On the agenda: more about the purchase of Fenn Farm by the Stockbridge–Munsee band. (Rain date: October 1, 2023)

 

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Photo: Lionel Delevingne

 PERSPECTIVE

From the Desk of the Stockbridge Fire Chief Vincent Garofoli

Emergency Response and More

The Stockbridge Fire Department is more than just emergency response. Beyond our training for the types of emergencies we will respond to we work even harder to help the public with Fire and Life Safety. We offer free home inspections upon request, and we will work to assist you in improving Fire and Life Safety within your home if necessary.

The Stockbridge Fire Department teaches Fire Safety to all children attending schools in the Town of Stockbridge from Pre-School to 2nd Grade. After that training fire safety materials are sent home to the parents along with a letter offering further training in the home if desired.

Aside from Home Inspections and Fire Safety taught in Schools we also work with many businesses, restaurants, inns, and hotels to ensure they are up to par on Fire and Life Safety requirements.

The bulk of the services offered by the Stockbridge Fire Department are behind the scenes in Fire and Life Safety. The members of this Fire Department are always working to ensure your safety whenever we can.

Looking to the Future

In order to continue to serve the residents and visitors to the Town of Stockbridge, we need to plan for the future of Fire and Emergence Medical Services (EMS). Currently that path has led us to looking at the creation of an Inter Municipal Agreement (IMA) with the Town of Lee to join our Fire and EMS services together. This process is a long and arduous one, and in the end, whatever is drafted by the working groups from Lee and Stockbridge would go before both Towns to be voted on before it could be implemented.

The benefit of this process is that the data being gathered will be vital in steering the future of Fire and EMS in the Town of Stockbridge. The data will paint a very clear picture of what we have currently, what locations could best serve the Town, and where we could improve Fire and EMS services in the Town of Stockbridge. Regardless of where the future takes the Stockbridge Fire Department, one constant remains: Stockbridge needs volunteers. The Stockbridge Fire Department is manned by volunteers and without them there is no Stockbridge Fire Department.

Volunteer Fire and EMS Services have existed in Stockbridge since the early 1900’s and will continue as long as volunteers keep answering the call to serve their neighbors and community. We could use your help now more than ever. The Town of Stockbridge has fewer younger individuals than most communities in Massachusetts and this is where we get our volunteers from.

If you are between the ages of 18 and 64, please consider joining the Stockbridge Fire Department. We are also offering a Junior Firefighter Program for those individuals in high school that are interested in joining the Fire Department once they reach 18.

Yes, we do answer calls for Fires and EMS but not every member does every type of call and with all the behind-the-scenes work that we do, we can always use your help.

If you would like more information or have any questions, please reach out to any member of the Stockbridge Fire Department or call me — the Chief — at 413-298-4866, text at 413-717-2751 or email me at firechief@stockbridge-ma.gov. We can’t wait to see what the future holds for the Stockbridge Fire Department, and we would love it if you could be a part of it.

 

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Photo: Lionel Delevingne

 PERSPECTIVE

8-Town Regional School District Planning Board Update

by Lucy Prashker, Chair of the 8 Town Regional School District Planning Board and Jake Eberwein, RSDPB Project Manager

Whether the Southern Berkshire Regional School District and the Berkshire Hills Regional School District will join to create a new single PreK-12 district is expected to be put to the voters of the eight members towns the last week of October.

At its September 26, 2023 meeting, the Board will be presented with a final draft of the proposed regional agreement, which on September 14 was formally approved by DESE’s Office of Regional Governance and its legal office as an agreement it could recommend to the Commissioner of Education. Should the Board vote to approve that agreement, the Board’s recommendation and the proposed agreement will be forwarded to the Select Boards of the 8 towns for placement on the warrants for the October special town meetings.

The Board will continue to hold public forums to provide information about its recommendation and answer questions. Upcoming forums are planned for

September 27 at Mt. Everett (a forum requested by the SBRSD school committee to discuss just the provisions of the regional agreement)

October 4 at the Mahaiwe (an informational forum to be moderated by The Berkshire Eagle, which will cover all topics)

October 11 at Mt. Everett

October 18 at Monument Mountain (both covering all topics)

We will also be present at:

Stockbridge Finance Committee on October 2

West Stockbridge Select Board meeting on October 10

In September, we presented at a joint eight town select board/finance committee meeting and at select board meetings in Egremont and Monterey). All voters should visit 8towns.org for detailed information about the reasons behind the Board’s recommendation and additional information about upcoming meetings.

 

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Photo: Lionel Delevingne

 THE LAST WORD

Reader to Reader

Carole

Nice item about the Chimes. For the record my grandfather, Alva Ernest (A E) Gray, played those chimes every summer evening for 45 years. The chimes were rung continuously as a peal of bells for 30 minutes as his casket was carried to the cemetery following his funeral in 1979.

Jonathan Gray

Editor’s note: Jonathan’s father was Vaughn Gray to whom I owe a debt of gratitude for the wonderful work he did in my book, The Berkshire Cottages. What a talented family.

Jonathan added that he was sure Claire Williams collaborated with his grandfather as he phased out due to age. Hope Stockbridge plays the same “peal” for Claire. She told me she stored all the music with instructions for playing in the Historical Room of the Stockbridge Library. Hope someone learns, or already knows how to play the chimes, and steps forward. Perhaps Bruce Blair?

Hi Carole,

Thanks for thinking of us [Affordable Housing Trust] and the survey.

It closed on Sept. 15th, and I reported preliminary results to the AHT yesterday. We still need to add in the hard copy data, which Michael will send me next week. Then, we can update the results.

Let’s shoot for a report on results for your early October issue, ok?

Jan Ackerman. Vice Chair, AHT

Dear Jan,

Thank you. I know readers will be interested.

Carole

To the readers:

This is a Stockbridge Updates Extra!

Carole

 

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Photo: Lionel Delevingne