jan. 26th issue

January 26, 2012Volume II, Issue 36

www.berkshirebeacon.comLenox, MA 01240

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1 Local News6 Puzzle Answers8 Editorial8 From the Tower11 Food12 Calendar14 Fun & Games17 Movies 17 Girl-2-Girl18 Sports

IS183 event is on

- Page 4

The Berkshire Beacon

Index

Bera DunauBeacon Staff Writer

LENOX – The new ownership at The Gateways Inn in Lenox is insti-tuting some significant changes at the establishment, while seeking to pre-serve much of what has drawn people to the Gateways for decades.

The Gateways was recently pur-chased by Eiran Gazit from former owner Fabrizio Chiarreli for $2.25 million.

Mr. Gazit and his family are no strangers in the Lenox community. Mr. Gazit and his wife, Michelle, have lived in Lenox for the past six years and their sons, Lior and Matan, currently attend Lenox Memorial Middle and High School.

Mr. Gazit has also been a visible fig-ure in Lenox’s business and civic life, having been a member of Lenox’s Economic Development Action Plan Steering Committee, a manager at the Cornell Inn and business manager at the Winthrop Estate in Lenox.

Currently, Mr. Gazit serves as an al-ternate on the Lenox Marketing and

Events Committee, the successor to the EDAPSC.

Built in 1912 as the summer home of Harley Proctor, of Proctor and Gamble fame, The Gateways has been an inn since 1948. Rumor has it that Mr. Proctor built the mansion to resemble a giant bar of ivory soap, al-though this hasn’t been confirmed.

As a result of this long history, Mr. Gazit inherited not just a building when he purchased The Gateways, but a number of loyal customers, as well as a seasoned staff, two facts that Mr. Gazit is very appreciative of.

“It’ll take me a long time to learn what she’s already forgotten,” said Mr. Gazit, referring to Michele Buck-ingham, who has been employed at the Gateways for 14 years, and will continue to work there under Mr. Gazit.

Indeed, Mr. Gazit has no intention of letting any of The Gateways’ long-time staff go, although he does plan to expand the inn’s workforce.

“I have tried to continue as much as

Catherine KrummeyBeacon Staff Writer

During a recent press conference, Massachusetts Secretary of Education Paul Reville unveiled the proposed cost of the Gateway Cities Education Agenda at just under $10 million.

That proposal is included in Gover-nor Deval L. Patrick’s fiscal year 2013 budget, which was released on Wednesday.

As previously reported in The Bea-con, the Gateway Cities Education Agenda plans to target 24 gateway cities (including Pittsfield) in the commonwealth with four educational programs: a Kindergarten Readiness Literacy Program, Student Support

Councils, a Summer English Learn-ing Program and Career Academies. A fifth program, the Commonwealth Education Innovation Fund, will be made available to all Massachusetts communities.

“Most of the children caught in achievement gaps live in those cities,” Secretary Reville said. “This is de-signed to provide immediate relief to the gateway cities.”

According to Secretary Reville, the Kindergarten Readiness Literacy Pro-gram will require $575,000 to help fund home visits for students who need assistance in learning how to read and professional development

Gateway Cities proposed budget set

just under $10 millionPittsfield could receive funding as part of the new the new program

Becket school flooding

Photo Credit : Bera dunau

Eiran Gazit has recently purchased the Gateway Inn and will look to make a few significant changes.

The Becket Washington School on Maple Street in Becket was closed Tuesday and Wednesday due to water damage after a pipe burst. They have spent two days cleaning the school and hope re-open the school Thursday.

Full Story on Page 7

Gateway Inn under new ownership

see GATEWAY page 16

see PITTSFIELD page 3

2 The Berkshire Beacon January 26, 2012

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SHEFFIELD – Senior Center Director John Arthur Miller came before the Sheffield Board of Selectmen to request, the board allow him to apply for a service grant for funding to ex-pand the position of director and to allow the center to expand the services the center can provide.

A conflict over Mr. Miller fill-ing for a grant to fund more hours for himself and whether the town would be exposed to any liabilities if a position is in-creased for a short time, caused several board members to ques-tion the following.

“If this is a town position at part-time I am nervous that we are setting a precedent with hours and benefits with this and other positions,” said Selectwoman Ju-lie M. Hannum.

Mr. Miller retorted saying that he felt the grant would not ex-pose the town to any liabilities with payroll.

“I have checked this is okay for us to do,” said Mr. Miller. “This grant has been used in towns like

Dalton, and will expand senior service.”

Rene C. Wood, select board chairperson, requested that Mr. Miller work with the town to craft the request to read that the $5,000 would be used to fund a part-time temporary position. Mr. Miller felt that in the very short time (the grant was due the next day) that he was not ready to support that idea.

In the end the board chose not to submit the grant application due to the possible liabilities it could create.

Other Business

The board has also been craft-ing new transfer station policies for the past few meetings. The board agreed that before they ap-prove the policy changes that they would meet with the transfer station staff.

The select board also would like the town to be aware of the several openings on town committees.

The openings are on the Ashley Falls Historic District Commis-sion, Board of Health, Broad-band Access Committee, Cable

Television Committee, Conserva-tion Commission, Historical Commission and the Industrial Development Commission.

Town Manager Rhonda La-Bombard also presented the bud-get for the Board of Selectman for fiscal year 2013.

Mrs. LaBombard’s recom-mended $157,000 budget posed a $6,400 cut in the total budget, with the only increases coming in the line items to fund training and conferences and a two per-cent increase in pay for the board.

Selectwoman Hannum felt that the board needed to cut further. After a short discussion, the board decided to eliminate the raise for themselves, saving $130 per member. The board also cut the office supply and in-state travel lines.

As part of the town’s process to pick a new town insurance policy, the board will look to appoint a retired past town employee to join the Insurance Advisory Commit-tee at their next meeting.

The other positions on the committee will be selected by the unions that represent the town employees.

Sheffield rejects supporting grant for senior center amid

benefit liability concerns

Photo Credit : Kameron Z. SPaulding

Senior Center Director John Arthur Miller came before the board to request permission to apply for a grant.

January 26, 2012 The Berkshire Beacon 3

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for early education instructors, among other things in the program.

The Student Support Councils will require $3.64 million in funding to hire student support counselors, who will help con-nect low-income students to the agencies and services that they need.

The Summer English Learning Program will have $3.75 million in funding for the summer schooling that will help students learn English and still be able to keep up with students who have a better grasp of the English language.

The Career Academies will cost just over $1 million to help gate-

way city students prepare for col-lege and jobs.

The Commonwealth Educa-tion Innovation Fund will need $1 million in funding to “provide the education sector with the kind of research and develop-ment function common in the business world,” according to the Executive Office of Education website, mass.gov/edu.

Secretary Reville said that there will be a competition amongst the 24 gateway cities for grants in the first four areas of the educa-tion agenda. As the budget is yet to be approved, he is not yet sure how many grants will be offered, but estimated that there will be around six grants for each of those four programs.

NORTH ADAMS – Massa-chusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) will host a presentation on “Medicinal Plant Conserva-tion” by Dr. Emily Mooney, an assistant professor of biology at MCLA, as part of the school’s “Green Living Seminar Series.”

The overall theme for the se-mester-long lecture series, which runs through May 3, is “Saving Biodiversity: Protecting Species in Berkshire County and Be-yond.” The whole series is free and open to the public.

The goal of this series, accord-ing to an MCLA release, is to “in-form both students and commu-nity members about local and

larger-scale efforts to protect spe-cies from extinction.”

“These presentations will in-form both students and commu-nity members about the impor-tance of biodiversity and efforts to protect ecosystems and species on the brink of extinction,” Elena Traister, MCLA professor of en-vironmental science, said.

Dr. Mooney’s lecture will take place on Thursday, Feb. 2 at 5:30 p.m. in MCLA’s Murdock Hall, room 218. In fact, all of the pre-sentations will take place in the same location and at the same time. The series is sponsored by Eos Ven-tures, Inc., Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort and MCLA’s Environmen-

tal Studies Department.“I hope participants will come

away with a greater awareness of the imperative to conserve global biodiversity and what we are do-ing at the local level,” Prof. Trais-ter said.

MCLA presents ‘Green Living Seminar Series’


NORTH ADAMS – The Freel Library at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) was re-cently awarded a $5,000 Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) Academic Library Incen-tive Grant for a subscription to “Films on Demand” and to bring documentary filmmakers to the campus.

“There are some great docu-mentaries out there and students are used to learning visually, whether it’s from TV or You-Tube,” Linda Kaufmann, public services librarian at MCLA, said.

The Films on Demand pro-gram will allow professors to show documentary films in their classes and also enable student access to more than 8,000 films over the Internet on a wide range of topics, including sociology, history, education, business, mu-sic and biology.

“Academic DVDs often are very expensive and only one per-son at a time can use them,” Ms. Kaufmann said. “Films on De-mand allows 24/7 access – on campus and off – for students, faculty and staff.”

The LSTA grant will also allow MCLA to sponsor two free events

for students and the public, ac-cording to an MCLA release.

In April, filmmaker Anne Macksoud will show her docu-mentary “Grandmother to Grandmother.” For the second event, filmmaker and retired MCLA sociology professor May-nard Seider will discuss his docu-

mentary about North Adams, “Farewell to Factory Towns?” Ex-act times and dates for these two events are yet to be announced.

The grant is funded by the In-stitute of Museum and Library Services and is administered by the Massachusetts Board of Li-brary Commissioners.

MCLA library receives $5,000 grant for ‘Films on Demand’


The Freel Library at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) was recently awarded a $5,000 grant.

Dr. Emily Mooney

PITTSFIELD from page 1



GREAT BARRINGTON – With green energy and, more prominently, solar power becom-ing central issues in most towns in the Berkshires, the Great Bar-rington Select Board had asked the planning board and town staff to craft some regulation on the size and location of solar ar-rays in the town.

Town Manager Kevin O’Donnell told the selectmen at their most re-cent meeting that after several discussions, the town planning board decided that they could not write the by-law that the board had asked for at this time.

Town Planner Christopher Rembold addressed the board and said that the planning board had felt that at this time there should not be a by-law on the is-sue as he felt that any change would only serve to discourage the use of solar.

The topic came to the forefront

at the Nov. 14 meeting of the se-lectmen when several residents came forward to question the possible building of a 12,000 panel solar farm.

Planning Board Chairman Jon-athan Harkin explained that his board thought that they were not allowed to write a by-law on solar due to Massachusetts General Law 40.3.

“MGL Chapter 40, Section 3 prevents towns from prohibiting or unreasonably regulating solar installations, except where neces-sary to protect the public health, safety or welfare,” said Mr. Harkin in his formal response to the board. “No issue of public health, safety or welfare regarding solar installation has come to our attention.”

In spite of this, the board asked that the town staff take another look at the possible by-law and try again.

“I think we need to try to con-tinue to explore these options,” said Select Board Chairman Sean Stanton. “We need to delay a bit

and we won’t be able to have this on the warrant this year.”

The board decided that they will have a joint meeting of the selectmen, planning board and the agriculture and energy com-mittees on Feb. 27 to further work on the issue of solar and green energy regulation.

In other business, Mr. Stanton also announced that citizen peti-tions to bring issues to the town meeting in May will be open from Jan. 30 to Feb. 8. Some members of the community asked that the period be extended.

After a short discussion the end date was extended until Feb. 29.

The board also acknowledged Katherine Sheridan, a sixth grad-er from Great Barrington, who recently was named the second place winner of a statewide essay contest on how kids would im-prove their towns. The contest had over 1,300 entrants.

The Great Barrington Board of Selectmen will meet again on Feb. 12 at 7 p.m. at town hall.

Great Barrington solar regulation hits snag


STOCKBRIDGE – IS183 was hoping to have a live music café event on Jan. 26. But the Stock-bridge Select Board recently in-formed the group that there would be restrictions placed on their events.

Hope Sullivan, the Executive Director for IS183, came forward at this week’s meeting to ask that some parts of the entertainment and liquor permits that were de-nied be reconsidered.

Part of the restriction put on their entertainment permit was that they could not use sound amplification. Ms. Sullivan ex-plained to the board that since the last meeting they have taken steps to work with their neigh-bors to curb potential problems.

“We have performed a sound check, and we invited our neigh-bors and they could not even hear the performance from their homes,” said Ms. Sullivan. “The only amplification will be for the singers so they can be heard, the music is acoustic.”

“That is well and good but it would have been far better if that had all happened before now,” said Selectman Stephen Shatz. “But I am willing to modify the terms of the entertainment license.”

The board agreed to unani-mously rescind the restrictions they had placed on their enter-tainment permit.

This means that the event is on as planned and will be able to use microphones and have full parking.

Ms. Sullivan had also requested that they be granted a one-day li-quor license. Selectman Shatz also motioned that this license be granted as well and that passed unanimously also.

The performers at the event will be John Clarke, John Rob-erts, Glenn Geiger, Kelly Ban-croft, Darren Todd, Tom Inger-soll, Blieux Coyote Wagner, Mark Tuomenoska and Iris Tuomenok-sa, all members of the staff.

IS183 expects this to be the first of five events in the music café series curated by faculty art-ist and musician John Clarke.

IS183 event gets final approval


IS183 will host a series of music cafes starting this week.


GREAT BARRINGTON - Ski Butternut in the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachu-setts will host the Mountain Dew Vertical Challenge Jan. 29th, where speed is king for skiers and snowboarders who compete.

It is planned as a day of racing, music, fun and giveaways at But-ternut as the longest running and farthest-reaching ski and snow-board race competition in the United States is now in its 22nd season.

The event is open to skiers and snowboarders of all ages and abilities.

Entry is free with a lift ticket and a completed registration form. Contestants under 18 must be accompanied by an adult. Registration is open from 8 to 11 a..m., when the race starts.

Product samples, contests and raffles will be prevalent through-

out the day and all race contes-tants will automatically be en-tered to win a snowboard, Hot Finger gloves, T-shirts, sweat-shirts, hats and more.

The Victory Party will start around 2:30 p.m. with a raffle and concludes with an awards ceremony for the top three finish-

ers in their respective age catego-ry, both male and female.

These winners will be present-ed with a medal, as well as a qual-ifying packet including a free lift ticket to attend the Mountain Dew Vertical Challenge Finals at Mount Snow in Vermont on March 31st.

Mountain Dew Challenge comes to The Berkshires


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Even as he plans to retire at the end of the year, Congressmen John Olver wants to publicly af-firm his agreement with Presi-dent Barack Obama after the State of the Union.

Both Rep. Olver and the presi-dent laid out what they see as America’s biggest struggle, de-fending the middle class and the American dream.

“The economy is heading in the right direction, but we can-not stop supporting unemployed and underemployed workers,” said Rep. Olver in reaction to the State of the Union address. “We must also do more to ensure that the American middle class has ac-cess to job training and well-pay-ing, secure jobs.”

Past generations “understood they were part of something larg-er; that they were contributing to a story of success that every American had a chance to share,” said Pres. Obama. “The basic American promise that if you worked hard, you could do well enough to raise a family, own a home, send your kids to college, and put a little away for retirement.”

Pres. Obama continued, “The defining issue of our time is how to keep that promise alive, no challenge is more urgent.”

Rep. Olver and the president both see changes to the tax code as a key step in protecting this dream.

“At a point where the top one percent of Americans took home 42 percent of financial wealth, we must return economic equality to its historical levels and, by doing so, provide all Americans with the ability to succeed,” said Rep. Olver. “I strongly support a sys-tem where the highest earners do not pay a lower effective tax rate

than the middle class.”The two officials also agree that

rebuilding America’s infrastruc-ture can be another key in pro-tecting our nation and employ-ing our citizens through the recession.

“During the Great Depression, America built the Hoover Dam and the Golden Gate Bridge; af-ter World War II, we connected our states with a system of high-ways,” said Pres. Obama. “Dem-ocratic and Republican adminis-trations invested in great projects that benefited everybody, from the workers who built them to the businesses that still use them today.”

Again Rep. Olver repeated many of the same ideas.

“I am a strong proponent for critical infrastructure spending, especially in the current econom-ic climate,” he said. “A major in-vestment in infrastructure would put Americans to work now and improve our long-term economic outlook.”

Rep. Olver

supports ideas laid

out in Obama’s address

Photo Credit : Pete SouZa

President Barack Obama talks with Jon Favreau, Director of Speechwriting, in the Oval Office, Jan. 23, 2012.


Answers to Jan 19Puzzles:

Janel HarrisonBeacon Staff Writer

OTIS – You have to actually hear it to believe it. Mr. Daniel Chattin of Custom Audio Works in Otis has been discovering a whole new science over the last 35 years. Hyper analog technol-ogy (HAT) is the discovery of an unrecognized electron behavior and its subsequent exploitation.

“The discovery of this electron behavior and the invention of a means to exploit it is the missing piece of the audio puzzle,” Mr. Chattin said.

Mr. Chattin grew up in Allen-town, Pa., where as a child he was always fascinated with vibrant, energetic sounds of the big bands. Since then his love of music grew and a great quest to perfect it. Now, after 35 years, it’s exciting as the technology is patent-pend-ing and ready to commercialize.

When speaking of this science breakthrough, Mr. Chattin, an intelligent, passionate man espe-cially regarding his work, said, “‘High fidelity’ has never achieved its namesake which is to fully mimic reality. It might sound real for brief moments but, a sus-tained illusion was never possible.”

He added, “I have discovered the mechanism of audio signal degradation and have invented a means to correct it. The mecha-nism of degradation is actually used to restore the signal. The au-dio signal provides both the pow-er source and the pattern for its own reconstruction or reintegration.”

The results are “counter-intui-tive,” as this is a device that uses no power, yet makes the sound clearer, crisper, substantially louder and more dynamic.

According to Mr. Chattin, the sound is real and life-like, it pops as if one is actually seated in a concert hall, and quite frankly, some concert halls don’t sound as vivid as this amazingly crafted sound. However it’s all relative to the sounds heard before, and Mr. Chattin likes to compare it with regular TV and high-definition TV, something one has to experi-ence first hand to believe, but once you experience it, you know,

without a doubt, it’s far better.HAT is not just for “golden

ears or audio files,” this is for any-one to jump and say, “wow.” It al-lows people to recognize and be able to enjoy music to a much fuller capacity; it behaves like real sound because the acoustic infor-mation is now free-flowing and available. Our hearing has great depth like no other sense.

With this system in place one perceives it to be a higher volume when compared to the “normal audio” at the same volume. The actual decibels do not increase, yet the sound is bigger, and you get the improved quality without the uncomfortable high sound pressure levels.

The AC reintegrator (ACR) is where it all begins. When this mechanism is plugged into any sound system it will radically im-prove the sound quality. Other devices invented by Mr. Chattin may also be used in conjunction with the ACR that are connected

between the source (CD player) and amplifier or between the am-plifier and speakers.

“With these devices,” said Mr. Chattin, “people own the sound quality.”

These devices come with a life-time guarantee and are available for audition and purchase.

Mr. Chattin told a story about an elderly man dependent on hearing aids who walked into the store one day and listened to the “new sound.” The man said by listening to Mr. Chattin’s ACR music he gained back everything he’d lost, and his ability to hear had been restored.

“It’s like discovering a new col-or, you can’t possibly tell it, it’s just there to experience,” said Mr. Chattin.

The results of Mr. Chattin’s hy-per analog technology are inde-scribable, a giant leap in our un-derstanding of the acoustics of music and the vast depths avail-able to us in the quality of sound.


NORTH ADAMS – Arts management students from Mas-sachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) will present the work of 11 artists from Pure Vision Arts (PVA) in Manhattan, N.Y., in MCLA Gallery 51 starting Jan. 26.

According to an MCLA re-lease, the exhibit, “Visions from the Edge: The Artists of Pure Vi-sion,” was curated by eight stu-dents from MCLA’s advanced museum studies class with the di-rection of Dr. Anthony Gen-garelly from MCLA’s fine and performing arts department.

PVA was founded in 2002 as Manhattan’s first specialized art studio and exhibition space for artists with autism and other de-velopmental disabilities, accord-ing to the PVA website.

“The works included in this exhibition are unique as the art-ists that created them,” Dr. Gen-garelly said. “They tell a story that pulls you far past their ar-resting images and bright colors.”

The exhibition will be present-ed with support from MCLA’s Jessica Park Project, a multi-year study of the social challenges and singular accomplishments of out-sider artists.

According to Gengarelly, the title of the exhibit refers not only to PVA’s name, but to the vision-ary quality of the art and artists

included.The featured artists are Wil-

liam Britt, Susan Brown, Chase Ferguson, Evan Gozali, Belo Green, Simone Johnson, Barry Kahn, Leon McCutcheon, Wal-ter Mika, Jessica Park and Alba Somoza.

They receive the title of “out-sider artists” due to the fact that they come from non-traditional, self-taught, art-making back-grounds; their creations come from a life experience outside of the mainstream art world or art institutions.

The exhibit will start with an opening reception on Jan. 26 from 5-7 p.m. that is free and open to the public.

Other free and open events and lectures will occur throughout the run of the exhibit, which ends on Feb. 19. For a full listing of these events, go to mcla.edu/Gallery51.

MCLA students collaborate with Manhattan art

studio for exhibit

Local man takes giant leap in audio technology

Custom Audio Works in Otis

Photo Credit : Janel harriSon

Mr. Daniel Chattin of Custom Audio Works in Otis has been discovering a whole new science over the last 35 years. His products are used nationwide.



LENOX – Despite a marked dearth of formal announcements, speculation is already beginning as to who will run for election to Lenox’s Board of Selectmen this year.

The Lenox Board of Selectmen is the chief governing body of the Town of Lenox. Its five members are elected to two-year terms, with at least one position being on the annual ballot every year. Being a Lenox selectman is a vol-unteer position, and selectmen receive no compensation for their work.

Select Board members Claudia “Dia” Trancynger and Linda (Procopio) Messana will be up for re-election this April.

When asked by The Beacon if she would be running for re-elec-tion Selectwoman Trancynger said that she was “undecided.”

Selectwoman Messana could not be reached for comment, but Selectwomen Messana confirmed last week that she won’t seek a third two-year term.

What is perhaps even more sig-nificant, is that no candidate has yet to formally announce their intention to seek the seats of the incumbent selectwomen.

One person who is considering making a run is Lenox Marketing and Events Committee Chair-woman Kim Flynn, who has served on the Lenox Board of Se-lectmen in the past. Mrs. Flynn says she has had several people approach her about running, but is hesitant to do so.

“I just don’t know whether I want to put myself back out there again,” said Mrs. Flynn.

Mrs. Flynn says that she be-lieves Lenox faces a number of substantial challenges, such as improving its infrastructure and working with neighboring mu-nicipalities on regionalization initiatives.

Instead of seeing the select board tackle these issues, howev-er, Mrs. Flynn says she has been dismayed by the amount of work

the select board has been forced to do on what she sees as frivo-lous matters.

“All of their time has been tak-en up by such inconsequential nonsense,” said Mrs. Flynn. “It’s really frustrating to sit back and watch.”

In particular Mrs. Flynn sin-gled out those who have cam-paigned against the Kennedy Park Belvedere.

“They’ve got to understand that there are a lot more impor-tant things that this town has to worry about right now,” said Mrs. Flynn, going on to say that many in Lenox were losing sight of the big picture.

Asked by The Beacon whether or not Selectwoman Messana or Trancynger deciding to seek re-election would influence her de-cision, Mrs. Flynn said she didn’t think so.

Instead, she said that whether or not she would run would be determined by whether she thought she could do substantive work for the town as opposed to being bogged down in controver-sies that were irrelevant in the greater scheme of things.

Mrs. Flynn, who is also a mem-ber of the Lenox Democratic Town Committee, said that no one has yet approached the com-mittee with the intention to run for select board, something she said was unusual.

Likewise, Sonya Bykofsky, a member of the citizens group Citizens Advocacy for All, best known for its anti-Kennedy Park Belvedere work, said in com-ments to The Beacon that she knew of no one running for select board at this time. She also said that she had absolutely no inten-tion of running for select board herself.

Scott Laugenour, a prominent member of the Lenox Green Par-ty who is currently running for the 4th Berkshire Massachusetts State House District, said that while he knew of some people who were considering running, he was not willing to divulge such information at this time.

With Messana’s seat open, who will run in Lenox becomes the new question

Janel HarrisonBeacon Staff Writer

BECKET - The Becket Wash-ington School on Maple Street in Becket remained closed Wednes-day due to water damage after a pipe burst, flooding the second and first floors.

It occurred early Monday eve-ning when ice inside the sprinkler system of one of the dropped ceil-ings of a second floor classroom subsequently increased water pressure.

The amount of water flow trig-gered the system’s alarm, alerting Becket fire personnel, who imme-diately arrived on the scene.

“It’s amazing the way the com-munity of Becket rallies behind situations like this,” said Becket Washington School Principal Leslie Blake-Davis. “The fire de-

partment has spent hours here from both Becket and Hinsdale, along with the custodial staff from Central Berkshire Schools, our school secretary, Mrs. Lisa Grogan, and other members of the community.”

Water flowed, affecting adja-cent classrooms and through the ceiling to the first floor, causing further water damage.

Central Berkshire School Su-perintendent William Cameron said, “The water damage will not require substantial reconstruc-tion. Some wall boards need to be replaced. Our main concern is being able to function as a safe school. In working with our in-surance company we believe that the cost to the district will be negligible.”

On Wednesday, an electrician reported no electrical damage and

there has been no damage to any technology, however paper prod-ucts will need to be replaced.

A full cleaning crew from Ser-vice Master has been contracted and stationed at the school for two days, bringing in fans and equipment to dry walls, ceilings and rugs, as well and utilize prod-ucts to inhibit mold and bacterial growth.

Becket Health Department Board Member Ginger Connor inspected the school on Tuesday and recommended to keep school closed another day.

Principal Blake-Davis said, “We are almost certain the school will be open on Thursday. As al-ways the children’s well-being and a healthy learning environment is of the utmost importance.”

Becket school closed Friday after flooding


During Governor Deval L. Pat-rick’s State of the Common-wealth address on Monday night, he announced a plan to unite Massachusetts’ 15 community colleges to fill 120,000 vacant jobs in the state and create addi-tional openings for the 240,000 unemployed.

Gov. Patrick called for an addi-tional $10 million in funding and asked Massachusetts busi-nesses to match that amount. Those funds will be allocated by the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education to the state’s community colleges.

The governor said that Massa-chusetts has jumped from 47th in job creation to fifth in the United States over the last six years, but that there is still 6.8 percent unemployment.

“Many of the jobs that are open – 120,000 in total – are middle-skilled jobs,” Gov. Pat-rick said during a recent press conference call, adding that many employers are having a hard time finding qualified candidates for those positions. The Board of

Higher Education will also estab-lish new curriculum standards and guidelines for selecting com-munity college presidents.

Heather Johnson, Director of Communications for Massachu-setts’ Executive Office of Educa-tion (EOE), said that these guide-lines will not affect the current search for a new Berkshire Com-munity College (BCC) president.

As part of this plan to unify the community colleges, Gov. Patrick is asking them to build more ro-bust relationships with businesses in their areas and also make trans-ferring credits easier between the

colleges and to four-year colleges.Ellen Kennedy, BCC’s acting

president, said that she is eager to see how the governor’s plans will work as well, adding that BCC al-ready works closely with businesses in Pittsfield and Berkshire County.

“A lot of what we do is based around workforce development and training for Massachusetts residents to make them employ-able based on the needs of em-ployers,” Ms. Kennedy told The Beacon. “In the Berkshires, we’re making sure we’re providing ev-ery opportunity possible to our students.”

Gov. Patrick aims to “turbo-charge” Mass. job growth through community colleges


Gov. Patrick will look to use community colleges to restart the economy.


Editorial:Suggestions for Lenox future

View From the

TowerKameron Z. Spaulding

As reported in our story on page two, Shef-field has a number of positions open on town boards.

They are far from alone, almost every town in the county has seats open.

What better time than now to get involved?Fresh off the State of the Union and as we

approach town meetings, this is the time of year to think about becoming more involved.

Community service isn’t about padding one’s resume, it isn’t about doing things so that one might be proud and arrogant about it.

It is about taking the time to give back what you can. It is not always easy, you can ask any member of the Lenox Board of Select-man and they will tell you that, but it is good to give back.

One simple call to your town hall can give you endless ways to get involved.

The openings in Sheffield are on the Ashley

Falls Historic District Commission, Board of Health, Broadband Access Committee, Ca-ble Television Committee, Conservation Commission, Historical Commission and the Industrial Development Commission.

If you live in Stockbridge they are looking for members of the Council on Aging, Cul-tural Council, Historical Commission and the Parks Commission.

Lenox, Lee and many other towns also have long list of boards they are looking to fill.

Also many towns are now in the petition phase if you have an issue you would like to see on the warrant for the town meeting this year.

It is great to hear several towns have al-ready had citizens come forward and get is-sues added to the meeting.

As we get closer to elections and town meetings it sure would be nice if a few more seats around the table were filled, it’s the American way.

George C. Jordan IIIEDITOR & PUBLISHER

Kameron Z. SpauldingEDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Susan G. RobinsonGRAPHIC DESIGNER

Bera B. Dunau, Rae A. Eastman, Susan M. Wicker Guerrero, Janel M. Harrison, Catherine Krummey, Dick SyriacCONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Janel M. Harrison, Jacqueline Wendling, Nancy G. Shepherd,Shannon T. MillerADVERTISING SALES

The Berkshire Beacon is published weekly. The Beacon is distributed throughout Berkshire County, MA. The Berkshire Beacon assumes no financial responsibility for failure to publish an advertisement, incorrect placement or typographical errors pub-lished. 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 reproduced without written permission of the publisher.

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At the wrap-up meeting of the Lenox Marketing Commit-tee, those attending were asked what could be done to spur business in Lenox.

The Berkshire Beacon offered two suggestions.First, an increase in bandwidth for the Lenox Historic Dis-

trict, which would be regulated and resold at a less than pre-mium rate somewhere between $29.95 and $65 for business class by Time Warner or Verizon’s DSL. This might help the landlords to attract new tenants and surely would reduce the cost of doing business on the Internet.

The second suggestion was burying the “demarcation line” that exists for Pittsfield residents, who view Lenox as the home of “Millionaires” and businesses, including restau-rants, that charge top dollar for their goods and services.

What has happened is those from the greater Pittsfield area are afraid to visit and shop in Lenox.

They come south on routes 7 and 20 with blinders on headed to the Massachusetts Turnpike or the Premium Out-let Stores in Lee. Once they go by Dakota Restaurant, the blinders come on.

What Lenox needs to do is forget about their respective “entitlements” that the people will find us. They need to roll out the red carpet for all of Berkshire County, west into New York State and east to the Franklin, Hampshire and Hampden County lines and signal with a town crier: A sign of Welcome!

This may work during the summer months, but not in the off-seasons of fall, winter and spring.

There are more than 40,000 shoppers in Pittsfield —for that matter perhaps well over 100,000 potential shoppers throughout Berkshire County—who have money to spend. Rather than chasing the out-of-towners (from New York, Boston and Hartford, Ct.) in the off-season, the Lenox Cham-ber of Commerce and its members should be chasing local dollar votes from around the county by offering specials to bring in new revenue sources.

Today, with Lenoxology, the Lenox business community needs to forge a plan independently and/or collectively that will attract new shoppers to Lenox.

It could be specials at Loeb’s Market, a special meal at Bistro Zinc, a special toy at the Gifted Child and perhaps a special Valentine gift from Chocolate Springs Café.

If Baconology 101 is good enough for Purina, then “Lenoxology” must be good for Lenox.

Nestle Purina PetCare Co., of St. Louis, Mo., notes that Baconology 101 is:

-Excitement = Beggin x speed of smell

-What happens when an irresistible aroma meets an immovable appetite? Beg-gin’ time

-An object in motion stays in motion. Check out my tail!

If Bodden Hamilton Part-ners of New York City have come up with a catch word that helps re-establish Lenox as a destination, an historic site worthy of visit-ing and as one of the enter-

tainment showcases in Mas-sachusetts, just say welcome and thanks.

Better yet, figure out how you can buy into Lenoxology and adapt it to your busi-ness. It just may work for you and your customer base.

Editorial:Time for Baconology?



PITTSFIELD – Thanks to a dramatic last minute action by the members of Manos Unidas and their supporters, the demoli-tion of the organization’s former community center at 335 Fenn St. has been halted for now.

The building was purchased to be used by Manos Unidas, a non-profit organization dedicated to serving immigrants, troubled youth and other disempowered groups, as a community center in 2005.

A 2007 electrical fire, however, damaged the building and set off a chain of events that resulted in Manos Unidas losing control of the property from 2009 until Au-gust 2011, a period in which the building steadily degraded.

Despite being under a demoli-tion order for the last three years, Manos Unidas has continued to hold out hope for the building, and have actively sought the re-sources to repurpose it into a community center once again.

It seemed that this hope had fi-nally been realized when a so-called “Angel Investor,” offered to purchase and renovate the prop-erty in mid-December of last year, so that Manos Unidas could once again set up a community center there. Unfortunately, this breakthrough coincided with the city’s preparations to follow through with their long-standing demolition order.

The preliminary phase of the dismantling of the building was already under way on Monday, Jan. 23 when Manos Unidas members and their allies gathered in the lobby of Pittsfield Mayor Daniel Bianchi’s office.

At the time the Manos Unidas supporters staged this action, ev-ery option for saving structure seemed to have been exhausted.

A hearing to obtain an injunc-tion from a judge to halt the de-molition, the second such at-tempt from Manos Unidas, had ended in failure the previous Fri-day. Furthermore, the city gov-ernment had repeatedly turned down requests to stop the demo-

lition, which was scheduled to be carried out by New Hampshire-based company Jay-Mor Enter-prises on the 23rd after a week-long delay.

Knowing that they were run-ning out of time, supporters of the old building assembled a last minute plan to prevent its de-struction: They would gather ten advocates for the former commu-nity center together and have them demand to speak with the mayor in order to persuade him to halt the demolition.

These supporters were drawn from a wide cross-section of soci-ety and included civil rights vet-eran Pastor Willard Durant, prominent landlord Ken Dun-can, Jeff Turner of the Green Rainbow Party, radio host Gra-ham Dean and Occupy the Berk-shires organizer and Congressio-nal Candidate Bill Shein.

Key organizers of this action, although not among the 10 peo-ple who visited the mayor, were longtime Berkshire County peace activists Donald and Marion Lathrop.

“It was really a powerful feeling having people from all different sectors of society come in sup-port,” said Nicole Fecto, Clerk for Manos Unidas and director of its Cooperative Economy Initia-tive, who attended the sit-in with her son.

After they occupied his office’s lobby, Mayor Bianchi invited the Manos Unidas members inside for a meeting, postponing other appointments in order to hear the group’s case.

“How can we be saying we’re investing in the community and tearing down the building that can be saved (as a) haven for com-munity,” said Annaelisa Vanae-gas, director of Manos Unidas, recounting the core of the argu-ment that the group presented to the mayor.

“The Mayor was moved and granted us a one-week stay,” said Mrs. Vanegas. “That was a very remarkable decision.”

“I said, if you can put this to-gether, we’ll give it a little more time,” said Mayor Bianchi in comments to The Beacon. “There

seems to be enough people in the community who are interested and supportive of the project.”

The final fate of the building at 335 Fenn St. will be decided this week.

Manos Unidas’ “Angel Investor “is still willing to purchase and repurpose the building, but be-fore this can take place the matter of the $50,000 lein the City of Pittsfield has placed on the build-ing for its demolition must be dealt with.

According to Mayor Bianchi, the investor seemed reluctant to take on the additional cost of the lien, which is the result of the city signing a contract for the build-ing’s demolition.

“We are discussing the liens (on the building) with interested parties,” said Mrs. Vanegas, who characterized the liens as the chief hurdle Manos Unidas faced for repurposing the building into a community center.

In terms of what they are seek-ing to accomplish this week, Ma-nos Unidas hopes to reach an agreement to equitably discharge the liens, have their investor sign the purchase and sales agreement, and potentially even begin con-struction on the building.

“He’ll have to come through, pay the back taxes, pay any me-chanics liens (and) come up with a realistic plan to make the build-ing safe and renovate it,” said Mayor Bianchi when asked what the city would need to see from the investor in order for the pur-chase and sales agreement to go forward and the demolition order be rescinded.

As for whether more extensions might be granted, Mayor Bianchi indicated that he hadn’t ruled out this possibility.

“Obviously paying the money would go a long way in showing good faith,” said Mayor Bianchi, referring to the possibility of the investor taking care of the con-struction liens on the building.

If the liens and back taxes are not taken care of, and the inves-tor decides not to go through with purchasing it, the building will be demolished on Jan. 30.

Manos Unidas gets a one week extension to keep property in Pittsfield


LENOX – The Lenox Market-ing and Events Committee event “Moving Lenox Forward 2012” produced a number of ideas for attracting new business to the community. It also set the stage for a breakthrough in Lenox’s re-lationship with the public rela-tions firms Bodden and Hamilton.

Moving Lenox Forward 2012 was held from January 19-20. The main focus of the event was a series of roundtables, held over the course of three sessions, the purpose of which was to brain-storm how to attract business and events to Lenox.

These roundtables were facili-tated by the Lenox Marketing and Events Committee and the New York City-based public rela-tions firms Bodden Partners and Hamilton Public Relations. Bod-den and Hamilton are the com-panies responsible for the cre-ation and implementation of the Lenoxology marketing campaign.

These roundtables were held at Cranwell Resort, and their total attendance has been estimated at around 85 people.

At the Friday morning round-table, the last one held, a number of ideas for bringing more busi-ness to Lenox were discussed. Marty Mitchell, Chief Marketing Officer for Bodden Partners, was the main facilitator for Friday’s meeting.

One of the chief themes that he discussed with those present was

using online promotional sites like Living Social to bring more visitors to town. Although Mr. Mitchell noted that a number of local merchants had resisted the idea of using sites like Living So-cial, he nevertheless defended their value, noting that a Lenox innkeeper had said at an earlier roundtable that he was booked 14 weekends forward after using the site.

Mr. Mitchell was supported in this by Cranwell Resort Manager Carl Pratt, a member of the mar-keting and events committee, who noted that Cranwell would soon be on Living Social, and that the site should be viewed as marketing.

“You really do have to accept that it’s marketing. It’s not sales, it’s not booking rooms, it’s mar-keting,” Mr. Pratt said.

One of the roundtable mem-bers who attracted significant at-tention was Jack Staub, Director of the Berkshire Scenic Railroad. The Berkshire Scenic Railroad runs from Lenox to Stockbridge, and Mr. Staub described the rail-road’s great success and populari-ty, noting how it attracted 15,000 riders a year, and featured such events as murder mystery trains, “Polar Express” and “Charlie Brown Pumpkin” rides.

Despite this, Mr. Staub noted that there was very little coordi-nation between Lenox businesses and the Berkshire Scenic Rail-road, noting that the railroad put out a “newspaper” for passengers


At the Moving Lenox Forward 2012 event the tables were full to discuss issues.

Lenox looks to “move forward” with promotion

see LENOX page 11


Susan Wicker GuerreroBeacon Staff Writer

Every time a classified ad for an estate sale runs in the newspaper classified section, it makes my heart race just a little bit faster.

What treasures are there to be found? Will they have any of my collectible cranberry glass? Victo-ria or Country Living magazines? Porcelain dolls in lacy pink dresses?

Will they have any good books or CDs for a buck? Ah, the pos-sibilities are endless.

People usually conduct estate sales after a person has died. The family has probably already gone through the contents of a house and what’s left remains for the sale.

In the case of people who leave no family, there may be even more “stuff ” to dispense of.

In a way, going to an estate sale is a bit macabre.

So often, I’ve watched people open up dresser drawers, rum-mage through cabinets and hold

up linens for inspection.Watching them, I often think,

“This will be my house in the fu-ture. People will be looking through all my own estate and yard sale ‘treasures’ and deciding what they want or don’t want.”

That line of thinking quickly dissipates, however, and I ascribe to the old “if you can’t beat them join them” school of thought. There’s a lot to be discovered at estate sales. One can often find beautiful, very high quality items at dirt dog prices and you cannot beat that.

An estate advertised last week-end turned out to be a winner. The dear soul whose estate it was had some interests and hobbies similar to my own.

For example, she must have loved dollhouses because there were lots of tiny accessories. In one baggie, I discovered an album of United States presidents’ pho-tographs no bigger than half a thumb.

There is a pile of photographs ready to paste into the itsy-bitsy

black pages of the album but first some research must be done. I don’t want to put the 15th presi-dent in front of the third. It was a great discovery inside the little plastic bag.

There is also a tiny meat grind-er, the memory of which whirled me back to the kitchen of my childhood home. My mother would attach an exact “big” rep-lica of that grinder to the kitchen table.

At Thanksgiving time, especial-ly, she’d grind all the giblets, giz-zards and heart of the turkey to turn into the most luscious stuff-ing you could ever imagine.

The grinder had a handheld crank that turned round and round. I can’t imagine what it was like to clean that thing, with all its little parts.

Anyway, now I have a one-inch grinder for an old-fashioned doll-house and it couldn’t have made me happier. See? It doesn’t take much.

Also at the sale was a table with collectible Christmas pieces but I

passed them up. “Too much stuff ” flashed through my mind when perusing that table.

Those items would be better suited for a young couple just starting out and establishing their own holiday traditions. Nearby, however, was a little wooden music box. Lifting the top, one could see a miniature scene with a lighted Christmas tree, people and horses prancing around it, and “Deck the Halls” playing in the background.

There was a tiny foot missing on the bottom so the box didn’t stand evenly.

“How much is this little music box?” I inquired, ready to negoti-ate because of the missing piece.

“Uh, two dollars,” one of the ladies running the sale said. Couldn’t beat that price for such a precious piece. By the way, once I got it home, my husband found a very similar round piece and glued it onto the bottom of the box.

It was a perfect fit and now the darling little charmer stands per-fectly even and ready for next Christmas.

Because the late owner of house

must have loved miniatures, there were lots of little things. A set of books, no more than two inches high, called out to me.

There are riddles in one, poems in another, tongue twisters and so forth. They now sit on a counter in a downstairs bathroom. Who could pass them up? Not me. They are absolutely adorable.

It would be possible to fill an entire newspaper with descrip-tions of all the treasures to be found at that particular estate sale.

Some, like a big dollhouse for sale, had to be passed up. The problem with it was the house had to be constructed. Can you imagine the thousands of pieces in that box? Thanks but no thanks.

After about an hour of explor-ing each crammed room, looking in closets, drawers and the pantry, my sister and I paid for our pur-chases and left, very content with our many newfound treasures.

May the owner rest in peace, knowing the things she left be-hind are safe and being enjoyed until another estate sale, hopeful-ly, in the far distant future.

Estate sales can always be a place to find treasures

Photo Credit : SuSan WiCKer guerrero

All kinds of gifts and items can be found if you track the listings in the classifieds. Everything from great books to wonderful old doll houses.

Photo Credit : SuSan WiCKer guerrero

Great items like this old music box are often found at local estate sales across Berkshire County.


to read on the hour and a half round trip, and that few Lenox businesses advertised in it, de-spite its apparently reasonable rates.

“I think what has to happen here is that this gentleman needs to be invited to our marketing meeting some morning and we have to begin to develop a vehicle to put programs together,” said Marketing and Events Commit-tee Member Bob Romeo, who noted, much to his chagrin, that despite living near the Berkshire Scenic Railroad, he’d known hardly anything about it.

Another approach to attracting new business traffic to Lenox was inspired by Berkshire Beacon Publisher George C. Jordan III.

At the roundtable, Mr. Jordan noted that many Pittsfield resi-dents drove right past Lenox, and had an aversion to patronizing its businesses.

“People from Pittsfield will come down to the line but they won’t go further. Millionaire ter-ritory, we can’t go there,” said Mr. Jordan, “There’s no welcome mat out there from Lenox to the Berkshire Community.”

Mr. Jordan’s contention in-spired retired marketing profes-sional Marjorie Steinberg to pro-pose that restaurants create a “Pittsfield Night,” where Pitts-field residents would receive dis-counts at Lenox establishments, an idea that Mr. Mitchell was particularly enthused about.

There was also a desire among those present to attract more young people to Lenox, although one thing that was not under consideration was any modifica-tion of Lenox’s brand.

“We should be doing things that are unique to us,” said Mrs. Steinberg. “Younger people like the same things (that Lenox of-fers), they just don’t hear about them because we don’t use their channels of communication.”

“Some people think well if you lower the age it’s going to be a rock concert … it’s not true,” said Mr. Mitchell, concurring with Mrs. Steinberg’s point. “All you’re doing is going for the same kinds of people ten years younger.”

Indeed, the focus of Friday’s roundtable was based almost en-tirely around increasing Lenox’s visibility, as opposed to altering its image to make it more appealing.

On the events front, Mr. Mitchell estimated, in comments

to The Beacon, that about a doz-en different ideas for events had been proposed over the course of the series of three roundtables.

“It was very successful for me,” said Mr. Mitchell, when asked about his thoughts on what had been accomplished at Moving Lenox Forward 2012.

A Win for the Town

The other major portion of Moving Lenox Forward 2012 was a Jan. 19 presentation by Bodden and Hamilton on the Discover Lenox website.

This presentation was done by Mr. Mitchell, along with mem-bers of Bodden and Hamilton who had remained at the compa-nies’ headquarters in New York City, and participated via speak-erphone. The presentation high-lighted the websites features for and applicability to assisting in the marketing of businesses in Lenox.

The presentation was well-re-ceived by those in attendance and afterwards Mr. Mitchell answered a number of questions from the sizable audience.

Some of these questions re-volved around how the website, and accompanying social media presence would be managed and maintained. It was also noted that the website hadn’t been up-dated for four weeks.

When asked by the press whether or not Bodden and Hamilton would be willing to manage the website Mr. Mitchell affirmed that they would. How-

ever, Mr. Mitchell said that hav-ing Bodden and Hamilton man-age the website would require additional funding.

By contrast, Lenox Town Man-ager Gregory Federspiel said that maintenance of the website and the accompanying social media presence was in the town’s current contract with Bodden and Ham-ilton, and that getting such ser-vices from the company would not require additional funding.

At the time The Beacon spoke with him, Town Manager Feder-spiel was withholding approxi-mately $12,000 worth of Bodden and Hamilton’s $56,000 contract because of this and other deliver-ables that the town had yet to re-ceive from Bodden and Hamilton.

That very day, however, after a meeting involving Town Manag-er Federspiel, employees of Bod-den and Hamilton and members of the Lenox Marketing and Events Committee, Bodden and Hamilton agreed to take over the management of the website for the six weeks remaining in their current contract at no additional cost to the town. This is a break-through in what has seemed to many outside observers to be tense negotiations.

“We’re doing this because it’s too important to make it run,” said Mr. Mitchell, speaking to The Beacon after the Jan. 20 roundtable. “So many people say it’s got to happen today, tomor-row; we’re the only people who can do that.”


A crowd of around 80 appeared to hear the Bodden and Hamilton presentations last Thursday at Lenox town hall.

LENOX from page 9

Anna ShippeeBeacon Contributor

During the winter there is a ton of really good citrus available. I love citrus and having some when it is freezing out is like being transported to summer.

So the other day I was flipping through a Cooking Light and saw a recipe for Grapefruit Pound Cake and I had to try it. Plus my fiance was very insistent that I made it right away.

Ingredients

9 ounces all-purpose flour (about 2 cups)

1 teaspoon baking powder5/8 teaspoon salt, divided1 2/3 cups granulated sugar6 tablespoons butter, softened6 ounces 1/3-less-fat cream

cheese2 large eggs1/4 cup canola oil2 tablespoons grated grapefruit

rind1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract1/2 cup 2% reduced-fat milk1/2 cup fresh grapefruit juice1 1/4 cups powdered sugar

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 325°.2. Coat a 10-inch tube pan

with baking spray. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry mea-suring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder,

and 1/2 teaspoon salt, stirring well. Place granulated sugar, but-ter, and cream cheese in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time. Beat in oil, rind and vanilla.

3. Add flour mixture and milk alternately to batter, beginning and ending with flour. Spoon batter into pan; bake at 325° for an hour and 10 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs clinging. Cool in pan on a wire rack 10 minutes. Invert cake. Cool on rack.

4. Place juice in a saucepan over medium-high heat; bring to a boil. Cook until reduced to 3 tablespoons (about four min-utes). Cool slightly. Stir in pow-dered sugar and remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt. Drizzle over cake.

Side Notes: Two tablespoons is a lot of grape fruits rind. I zested two large grapefruits and got about one tablespoon; so I added about a tablespoon of grapefruit juice in enhance the grapefruit flavor (because I was tried of zesting.)

Also I used apple sauce in place of the oil and skim milk over the 2%. I made the Cooking Light recipe even lighter. These changes did not seem to change the cake but I found that it was done in a hour not a hour and 10 minutes.

Hope you enjoy your cake!

Photo Credit : anna ShiPPee

The finished Cooking Light grapefruit pound cake.

A light and tasty winter pound cake


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

Community Calendar

Rae EastmanBeacon Staff Writer

Janny Scott has written a most interesting book about Barack Obama’s mother. The author paints her – Stanley Ann Dun-ham – as highly intelligent, very outgoing, full of humor and above all, devoted to her children.

She ignored convention, mar-rying first a Kenyan (in Hawaii) and then an Indonesian – at a time when over 20 states in the United States outlawed interra-cial marriages. She took in stride the fact that her marriages didn’t work out, concentrating instead on building strength of character and high educational goals in both her children: Barack (“Bar-ry” at home) – when he was 10, she sent him alone to Hawaii to pursue his education – and his younger sister, Mayo.

She herself has been described by her friends as “generous, per-ceptive and compassionate” and also “forthright, sharp-tongued; opinionated – happy.” She was a private person “with depths not easily fathomed.”

Her son described her as hav-ing “a sweetness and generosity of spirit that resulted, occasionally in being taken to the cleaners.” It was her spirit and unconditional love, however, he told the author, that contributed to his own calm, even keel and to some of his own career choices: “the single con-stant in my life.”

She came to Indonesia as a wife, later pursued her career as an anthropologist – all the while working on her doctorate for the University of Hawaii: “Peasant Blacksmithing in Indonesia; Sur-viving and Thriving Against All Odds.”

It took her close to twenty years, but was hailed, when pub-lished, by two well-known an-thropologists as “a monument into the next century” (James Fox) and “one of the richest eth-nographic studies to come out of Java in the past generation” (Mi-chael Dove).

Over the years, working as an anthropologist in Indonesia, she would take bits and pieces from it for articles and lectures. There was plenty to take from: it was

1,043 pages long.In Java, she became fluent in

Javanese, made many friends, held many jobs and kept aloof from the embassy or oil company folk her husband urged her to cultivate to support him in his oil industry job – which somewhat depended on such associations. It was even assumed that one could not be in the oil business there without succumbing to at least some kind of corruption and she would have no part of that.

Instead she became “the” com-munity organizer in central Java.

One job she held there was for the Ford Foundation as a devel-opment consultant; another was with Women’s World Banking, which is run by women and is the world’s largest self-sustaining commercial micro-financing pro-gram in the world.

The officials there were im-pressed with her intelligence, in-dependence, experience and sense of humor.

She was given the job of Coor-dinator for Policy and Research – but not before she had argued them into a coalition with the other banks with similar pro-grams. Other women in the en-terprise – with graduate degrees from all over – were drawn to her as they learned how free she was: fearless in pursuit of her dreams, unconcerned about society, easy in her ability to form lasting rela-tionships and how non-judg-mental she was, however firm her opinions might be.

Her health grew gradually worse, though she continued working for Development Alter-natives, which had hired her as their development consultant in Indonesia, considering her expe-rience perfect for the job which was to strengthen the Indonesian State Ministry for the role of women.

A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack

Obama’s Mother By Janny Scott

Available in bookstores and on Amazon

Riverhead Books; a member of the Penguin Group $26.95

(hard cover)

New books sheds light on Obama THuRSdAy, JAn. 26

THE TENOR OF OUR TIMES: IS CIVIL DIS-COURSE POSSIBLEStockbridge, 5:30 p.m.Norman Rockwell Museum presents "The Tenor of Our Times: Is Civil Discourse Possi-ble?" on ongoing on Thursday, The community conversation, part of the Museum's ongoing Four Freedoms Forums, will dis-cuss whether civil discourse is possible given the tenor of our times, and what it will take to inspire collegiality and joint de-cision-making for the public good.

“SAVING BIODIVER-SITY: PROTECTING SPECIES IN BERKSHIRE COUNTY AND BEYOND”North Adams, 5:30 p.m.Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts’ (MCLA) spring semester Green Living Seminar Series will begin with a presentation on “Biodiversity and Conservation in New York State Parks,” by George Robinson, associate pro-fessor of biological sciences at the University of Albany.

CRIME AFTER CRIMENorth Adams, 8 p.m.Kicking off our documentaries series, Strategic Thinking, Crime After Crime portrays Deborah Peagler, a woman bru-tally abused by her boyfriend, who is sentenced to 25 years to life for her connection to his murder. Twenty years later the case is reopened, allowing Peag-ler to fight against the suspicious evidence and unfair trial that originally forced her into prison.

FRidAy, JAn. 27

JAZZ PIANIST TO EN-TERTAIN AT EPOCHPittsfield, 3 p.m.Ethan Stone, a talented jazz pia-nist, will visit EPOCH Assisted Living at Melbourne on Friday, to entertain residents and guests with his combination of popular songs from the 1920s through the 1950s.

ACTIVE PARENTING LUNCH AND LEARNPittsfield, 12 - 1:30 pmA workshop series for parents of children 0 - 4 years old at McIn-erney Parent Services, 48 Eliza-beth Street. Additional dates, Feb 3 and 10.

SATuRdAy, JAn. 28

CHICOPEE PARANOR-MAL INVESTIGATORS: FINDINGS AT VENT-FORT HALLLenox, 3:00 p.m.Chicopee Paranormal Investiga-tors presentation of evi-dence (audio & visual) found during 2 years of investigating Ventfort Hall & paranormal equipment demonstration. This will all be followed by a Victo-rian Tea. Admission is $35. Please reserve today by calling 413-637-3206.

SEED-SAVING VEGETABLESStockbridge, 10 am - noonThis program will provide an in-troduction to the basics of sav-ing vegetable seeds. The issues of pollination, isolation, timing, spacing, harvesting, cleaning, drying and storage will be dis-

cussed, and terms such as hybrid and open-pollinated, "selfers" and "crossers" will be explained.

ART TOUR & RECEP-TION SLATED AT CRANWELL RESORTLenox, 4 – 6 p.m.Cranwell Resort, Spa and Golf Club, will host an art tour and reception on Saturday, On show are photographers and cerami-cists represented by Sohn Fine Art Gallery in Stockbridge, as well as Marylin Kalish, artist and owner of Vault Gallery in Great Barrington.

DISCOVER, COLLECT, AND CREATE Williamstown, 3-6 p.m.Free workshop-Discover, Col-lect, and Create each Saturday in January will feature an artists walk exploring the Clark s campus. Participants will collect sticks, stones, leaves, and thoughts to create multi-sensory art experi-ences and temporary sculptures. Each walk will be different and designed to heighten sensory awareness through looking at and listening to the sounds of nature in the winter landscape. This workshop is on Saturdays in January from 1:00 to 3:00 pm. Meet at the west entrance and dress warmly to explore the Clark campus!


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I could from what Fabrizio was using in terms of manpower and in terms of contractors,” said Mr. Gazit. “That being said, I’m not new in the business and I’m not new in town. I have my own peo-ple that I’m used to working with and some of them have already been here.”

Mr. Gazit’s goal is to transform The Gateways Inn into an estab-lishment that will be patronized not just by visitors, but by locals as well.

“My business model talks about year-round,” said Mr. Gazit.

One of the chief ways that Mr. Gazit plans to do this is by creat-ing a restaurant inside The Gate-ways that will be accessible and affordable for Lenox’s local popu-lus. Mr. Gazit initially plans to start by serving breakfast and din-ner, but is considering expanding to serving lunch as well, so as to take advantage of what Mr. Gazit sees as a lack of establishments in Lenox catering to clients looking to have a business lunch.

A Family Affair

Mr. Gazit’s wife will be taking care of the breakfasts at The Gate-ways, while the inn’s current chef will be taking care of the dinners.

Another element of the new Gateways will be that it will be open late nights, so as to provide a relaxed space for people coming out of shows at Tanglewood and Shakespeare and Company. Mr. Gazit believes there is space in Lenox for an establishment with a relaxed atmosphere where a per-son can grab a drink in the later parts of the evening, and points out that the first item that he pur-chased for the inn was a piano.

Another change taking place at The Gateways Inn is that it has become a Jewish establishment.

The Gateways now has a mezu-zah on every door, and Mr. Gazit plans to offer a Shabbat dinner every Friday night. The food at The Gateways Inn will also be prepared with an eye towards Jewish Dietary Laws, and will fea-ture no pork, shellfish or mixing of meat and milk.

“We don’t claim to be kosher,” said Mr. Gazit, “But everything we serve here is kosher.”

Mr. Gazit also noted that when his wife cooked breakfast at the Cornell, they had a reputation for having the best breakfast in town, and Mr. Gazit hopes that The Gateways will soon garner such a reputation for itself.

Before the restaurant starts up, however, The Gateways Inn will need to get its liquor license ap-proved. Mr. Gazit believes that if all goes well, the bar and restau-rant will be able to open some-time in March.

Mr. Gazit is originally a native of Israel and before moving to Lenox, he lived with his wife, Mi-chelle, who is American-born, for 20 years in his home country.

“We love the Berkshires but Je-rusalem is home,” said Mr. Gazit.

Mr. Gazit and his family decid-ed to move to the Berkshires both because much of Mr. Gazit’s work was in the western hemisphere, and because they wanted to live closer to Mrs. Gazit’s parents. As long-time visitors, the Gazits de-cided that the Berkshires would be an ideal place to relocate to.

“I said if you move from Flori-da to the Berkshires, I’ll move from Jerusalem to the Berk-shires,” said Mr. Gazit, relating a conversation he’d had with his wife’s stepfather.

Sure enough, a few months af-ter the Gazits made their move, Mrs. Gazit’s parents made the move up to the Berkshires to join them. Although Mrs. Gazit’s stepfather has now passed, the family still sees her mother every day.

As for his future plans for The Gateways Inn, Mr. Gazit does plan to eventually sell the property.

“I think that I will be able to bring the value up,” said Mr. Ga-zit. “It seems to me the logical thing to do is to double whatever you invested in it.”

Mr. Gazit and his family also feel a strong pull towards Israel. Their eldest son, Adam, has re-cently started serving in the Israe-li Defense Force, and their mid-dle son, Lior, will start his service after graduating from Lenox High School this year. Mr. Gazit, who achieved great success in his home country in founding and making successful the theme park Mini Israel, has also expressed a desire to eventually return to the country of his birth.

Still, the Gazits are in no rush to leave, and are currently en-grossed in the ceaseless project of running and reinventing an inn.

“I’m thrilled to own this place,” said Mr. Gazit. “I’m very excited about it, my wife is excited about it, my kids are excited. We think that this is going to be a wonder-ful experience for however many years we’ll be here.”


According to the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), The Artist, The Descendants, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, The Help, Hugo, Midnight in Paris, Moneyball, The Tree of Life and War Horse are the nine best films of 2011.

All nine of those films are nom-inated for the prestigious Best Picture Oscar and have received nominations for other Oscars, in-cluding directing, acting and technical categories.

Nominations for the 84th An-nual Academy Awards were re-cently announced by AMPAS President Tom Sherak and 2010 Oscar-nominated actress Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone).

The Artist, which is currently showing at the Triplex Cinema in Great Barrington and coming soon to Images Cinema in Wil-liamstown, received 10 nomina-tions in total and is considered a front-runner to win Best Picture. It won several awards at the Jan. 15 Golden Globes, including Best Picture – Comedy or Musi-cal, and those awards are usually good indicators of what will win on Oscar night.

Hugo, which garnered a sur-prising 11 nominations total, in-cluding one for its legendary di-rector, Martin Scorsese, might be The Artist’s closest competition. Hugo is currently on its way out of theaters and is not expected to be on DVD until April.

However, The Descendants, which came in with only five Os-car nominations, will also be a major contender in the Best Pic-ture race, as it won the Golden Globe for Best Picture – Drama. The film’s star, George Clooney, has been nominated for Best Ac-tor and is likely to win in that category. The film is showing

through Jan. 26 at the Tri-plex and will move to the Beacon Cinema in Pitts-field starting Jan. 27. It also opens at Images on Jan. 27.

War Horse, from director Steven Spielberg, received six nominations, mainly in technical categories such as c in ema tog r aphy and sound editing. Like Hugo, it is also on its way out of theaters and is not expected to be available for home-viewing until April.

Midnight in Paris, the latest from nominated writer-director Woody Allen, received four nominations in total. It is currently available to rent or buy on DVD, Blu-Ray or digital download.

The popular adaptation of The Help also received four nominat ions, including one for Octavia Spencer for Best Sup-porting Actress, an award that she has good odds of winning. It is also available on DVD, Blu-Ray and digital download.

Moneyball, the based-on-a-true story baseball flick starring Brad Pitt, received six nominations, in-cluding one for its star. You can catch this one at home as well.

Perhaps one of the biggest Os-car surprises this year is the three nominations (including one for director Terrence Malick) for The Tree of Life, an art-house film. It is available for home-viewing, but viewers be warned that it includes lengthy sequences of nothing but a series of images of nature and landscapes. In other words, The Tree of Life requires a larger atten-

tion span than most movies.Another surprising multi-

nominated film is Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,

which has received a minimal amount of award nominations thus far compared to the rest of the Best Picture nominees.

Other than Best Pic-ture, the only nomi-

nation it received was for Max von Sydow as

Best Supporting Actor. It is currently showing at both the Beacon Cinema and the Regal Berkshire Mall 10 theater in Lanesboro.

Aside from the Best Pic-ture nominees, other films that received multiple nominations are Albert Nobbs (three nominations, starting at the Triplex Jan.

27), Bridesmaids (two nominations, available

for home-view-ing), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (five n o m i n a t i o n s ,

leaving theaters/on DVD in March), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (three nominations, available for home-viewing), The Iron Lady (two nominations, now playing at the Triplex and opening at the Beacon Jan. 27), My Week with Marilyn (two nominations, on DVD in March), A Separation (two nominations, coming soon to Triplex), Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (three nominations, now playing at the Beacon) and Trans-formers: Dark of the Moon (three nominations, available for home-viewing).

The 84th Annual Academy Awards will air live on ABC on Sunday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. with Billy Crystal as host.

Oscar nominations announced, where to see them in the Berkshires

GATEWAY from page 1

To advertise in The Berkshire BeaconCall 413-637-2250



Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a slow-building film with rich re-wards for those who allow them-selves to be drawn into its web.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is based off the novel of the same name by spy fiction master John Le Carre.

Le Carre, the pen name of Da-vid John Moore Cornwell, served in British intelligence during the 1950s and ‘60s. Unlike many spy writers, such as Tom Clancy and Ian Fleming, Le Carre’s spy nov-els aren’t filled with action se-quences, fancy gadgets or black and white conflicts between right and wrong. Instead, they chroni-cle the morally ambiguous world of international espionage, and the men and women whose lives become consumed by it.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is set in early 1970s Great Britain dur-ing the height of the Cold War. Control, played by John Hurt, the long-time head of “The Cir-cus,” the top level of British intel-ligence, is forced to resign after an off-the-books operation he au-thorizes leads to an agent being shot and killed. Also exiting The Circus as a result of the scandal is George Smiley, played by Gary Oldman, a close ally of Control’s.

A long time intelligence officer, Smiley is in many ways a ghost of a man. Estranged from his wife, he seems to only be going through the motions of living after his forced retirement.

This inactivity doesn’t last long, however. Before he was made to resign, Control believed, and was

working to uncover, that there was a high-ranking mole in Brit-ish intelligence.

When evidence surfaces that Control may have been right after all, Smiley is secretly brought back to find the truth of these al-legations, and to discover the identity of the mole if they are valid.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a movie that says as much with its silences as it does with its dia-logue. Beautifully shot, there’s a palpable weight to almost every frame of the film, whether it’s in a brightly-lit hotel room in Turkey or in the overcast streets of London.

What really drives Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, however, is its acting.

Gary Oldman’s portrayal of Smiley is haunting and ephemer-al, and until the very end you are not sure what his true motiva-tions are. Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays Peter Guillam, Smiley’s chief aid in uncovering the spy ring, is also fantastic, as he shows the conflicts of a man assigned to work against his own organiza-tion, as well as the personal toll that espionage work takes. Simi-lar themes of personal tribulation are explored by Tom Hardy in his portrayal of fugitive British intel-ligence agent Ricki Tarr.

Other notable performances in the film come from Mark Strong, Colin Firth and Toby Jones, all of which contribute to the omni-present, yet always unvoiced, feel-ing that espionage work has a way of grinding down its practitio-ners’ souls.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a movie with hardly any exposi-

tion. As such, the characteriza-tions and nuances of its cast’s per-formances pull double duty as both character and plot develop-ment. With a less finely-crafted script, polished directing or excel-lent acting, this effort could have fallen flat. In Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, however, the result is noth-ing short of sublime.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, precisely because of, and not in spite of, what it does so well.

The film is slow-paced, and takes its time drawing you into its plot. Until the very end, you aren’t sure what exactly everyone’s angle is, and the narrative is one of a constant stream of small, of-ten seemingly inconsequential, revelations that help build the story to a climax.

For some, this style of movie will not be engaging or gripping enough, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy will lose them long before it can really start to take off. For those willing to go along with its conceits, however, the rewards are substantial, and provide one of the most elegant and satisfying conclusions to a movie that I’ve seen in awhile.

So if you enjoy great acting, thrillers that make you think as much as they entertain and can appreciate a more circumspect style of storytelling, than I would highly suggest you check out Tin-ker Tailor Soldier Spy. It proves that, far from being simple and monolithic, the spy genre can be as complex and nuanced as any other, and is sure to linger in your thoughts.

Girl-2-GirlRevive your

BrideJanel HarrisonBeacon Staff

This past weekend was defi-nitely one to go in the memory book. One of my best girlfriends had the greatest idea. We all really wanted to see the movie “Brides-maids” which, by the way, was so hilarious, off-beat, gross and raunchy with just the right amount of heart; quite frankly the perfect chick flick with a wide variation of humor for both sexes. We loved it.

Anyway she thought how fun would it be to have a girls night, dinner and cocktails. We also could engage in this game we call “Left, Right, Center” which we play for dollars and I’ve yet to win (no extra lunch money for my girls).

To top it all off, we’d watch the movie while wearing our bridal gowns.

Well a couple of our girlfriends laughed and thought, “yeah right, don’t think that will happen” and didn’t have much luck getting theirs to zip (almost, but just not there right now). Consequently, it was their time of the month so naturally that adds about ten pounds.

My girlfriend, however, who’s starting to remind me of a clean, cheery Mrs. Havisham with good hair, is happily married, and let’s not forget to mention has an ex-quisite gown to boot. She pops into hers all the time like it’s nothing, dusting, vacuuming, laundry; it’s a beautiful thing. When in Rome, right?

Our big night was here and it was time to open my hope chest and take my cherished wedding gown out of hiding. While re-moving its plastic covering the memory of my wedding day was before my eyes, I could see it all.

I woke up and it was snowing in May, just the right amount of sparkle to embellish my day and make it even more magical.

Of course the snow turned to wind that nearly blew my veil off, and our priest stood at the pulpit and said how fortunate we were, because God had blessed us with all the gifts of weather, just as he

has blessed us with all the gifts of life. It was sweet, poignant and made the day seem perfect. Thank you Father Peter.

I asked my mother and father to give me away and found it spe-cial as they walked with me down the aisle, while at the end was my one true love just gazing at me as if it was always meant to be. It’s funny I said the end when it was just the beginning.

We held hands kneeling at the altar and sat upon two large, red velvet chairs fit for a king and queen until it came time to ex-change our vows.

So why wouldn’t we want to re-live such memories? I know things that can happen at our weddings aren’t always perfect, but the memory is.

I’m standing at the top of the stairs, “Here I come!”

My husband starts the hum-ming the wedding march as I de-scended the staircase gracefully. I reach the bottom and my six-year-old daughter says, “Oh Mommy you look just like a prin-cess!” The other starts laying out the train. Of course I was just happy to get the thing zipped, and it wasn’t an easy chore, wow was I small. Seems I was practi-cally like Olive Oyl back then. Guess a lot can happen in 10 years, well you all know that. Af-ter popping out watermelons our hips widen a tad.

My girls, however, swam in it. It was more like a circus tent than a dress, but it was so sweet and it warranted pictures. It is both of their wish to wear it someday, “so no red wine tonight,” I thought.

The best part was the look in my hubby’s eyes as I walked to-ward him; it was the same look I saw ten years ago.

It’s not so silly to take your gown out of mothballs or your cedar chest and try it on. It may not be easy or perhaps you won’t even get it zipped, so what, not everyone wore theirs at our bridal party, they wore one of the “28 dresses” of my girlfriends.

And that little bit I will save for you all next week. Just think ice fishing socks and see where it takes you.

Tinker Tailor builds throughout film


dick SyriacBeacon Staff Writer

Everyone who reads the sports pages of the New York Post is fa-miliar with Phil Mushnick. For the benefit of the Daily News faithful, he is the TV/radio critic who writes a column three times a week and who seems to think like I do.

When I watch a telecast of a sporting event, I always have a pad and pen at the ready. In the event that an announcer or color analyst misses something obvi-ous, over-analyzes a routine play or just plain makes a fool of him-self, I make a note of it and email it to Mr. Mushnick in an attempt to be recognized in his column. On occasion I have been successful.

During the tribute at the Sta-ples Center following the death of Michael Jackson, I heard Magic Johnson tell the crowd that if it wasn’t for “The Gloved One” he would not have been as successful at basketball and owed a great deal to Michael.

I went to my computer and sent an email to [email protected] was on the way. I mentioned that I never recall Magic giving any “cred” to Mi-chael when he gave his hall of fame speech. Mushnick liked it and used it.

He also gave me some ink time for noticing an ESPN graphic

that read N. Florida-N. Orleans 7 p.m. I wondered if New Florida was playing North Orleans that night.

I also try to spot the obvious “red flags” on telecasts that I know Mushnick will be all over so he doesn’t need my input.

During the Louisiana State University-Alabama BCS Cham-pionship game, one of Mush-nick’s favorite targets, Brent Mus-berger, came out with a beauty: “the young man back at the 20-yard line to receive the punt has excellent hands for a punt return man.”

Sorry Brent, too late to take that one back. Mushnick’s next “Equal Time” column wondered if any coach would have his “bad hands” people trying to catch a punt.

When I landed this gig at The Beacon, I had to inform Mr. Mushnick that I would have to demand my release from the Post and would no longer be able to contribute to “Equal Time.” I thanked him for using about one percent of the suggestions that I have sent in over the years and mentioned that I had enough ma-terial to use for my column from my “rejected by Mushnick” file for years to come.

His first move was to call “Law and Order SSU (Special Stalkers Unit)” to cease the ongoing probe of my motives. Relax Phil, your job is safe now.

Let’s face it, some of these an-nouncers can drive you nuts to a point where the mute button must be activated.

Dick Stockton: How can this guy still have a job? Besides being an automatic mute, he screwed up the biggest call of his career, the Carlton Fisk fair-or-foul home run: “A high drive, if it stays fair, HOME RUN!” That’s not even a complete sentence.

Troy Aikman and Moose John-ston must have a contest of who can say the most words describing a routine play from scrimmage. Hey boys, we would like to watch the game, not listen to you ram-ble on after every play; please al-low us to do so.

When the Patriots played the Broncos in December, Jim Nance was guilty of telling us something that we knew was not happening. His partner, Phil Simms, was ei-ther using the restroom at that time or did not want to embarrass his partner and point out his er-rors. Pats have the ball late fourth quarter on the Bronco two-yard line with a comfortable lead. Tom Brady takes the snap from under center, secures the ball, leans to the left and hits the ground. Nance called it a quarterback sneak.

Next play, Brady does the exact same move and Nance tells us again that the QB sneak failed. Hey, “Mr. CBS Sports,” the Pats were not trying to score, they

were eating time off the clock. Anyone who knows that a foot-ball is blown up and not stuffed realized that except you. (Even af-ter one of the plays was replayed, you didn’t catch on.) I bet even the boys in the truck were won-dering what you were talking about.

The NFC Championship Game found Joe “In This Game” Buck not letting his fans down. During the second half alone, he uttered his favorite phrase 16 times: “The Giants have punted four times in this game,” “that is the second penalty for the Niners in this game,” etc.

Hey Joe, I hope you are talking about “this game,” because that is the one we are watching.

Troy Aikman has to classify his meanings for “excellent,” “great,” “nice” and “good” for us so we can understand his analysis of plays.

He overuses these three words as adjectives for job. What is the difference between a player doing a great job, an excellent job, a nice job or a good job? We will have to ask Troy.

Vernon Davis, tight end for the Niners and hero in the win over the Saints, was touted all week as being a player who had turned his attitude around after some rough moments in his rookie days under former coach Mike Singletary. The intense Singletary had pulled him off the field and insisted he

leave the bench during a game. Davis told us this week that he learned from that tough love dis-cipline he is not a selfish player anymore.

What does he do after scoring a touchdown in the most impor-tant game in years for the San Francisco franchise? He climbs up onto a photographer stand, glares at the opposition and gets an unsportsmanlike conduct pen-alty, killing his team’s momentum.

He is lucky Singletary has moved on; some of these guys just don’t get it. They would rather get some “street cred” and be glo-rified on SportsCenter than get to the Super Bowl.

How do we stop the madness and return to simply sports com-petition? It’s very simple: if a fool breaks the rules after a score, take away the score.

How do we eliminate danger-ous spearing and helmet-first blows and encourage proper tack-ling? That’s also a no-brainer: take the face guards off the helmets.

Our faithful readers are wel-come to send in their observa-tions and opinions about the sports world and the way it is cov-ered by media outlets. Send your comments to [email protected]. We need all the help we can get. We must stop the madness before it gets to-tally out of control.

Check the tape: What is going on during all these games?

Do you want a newspaper that carries stories about things your children are participating in?

Call us at 413-637-9822 or write to [email protected]

So do all of us at The Berkshire Beacon.

Our writers care about what’s on your mind and they care about your children.We want you to be able to clip articles to send to friends and family members,

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College Sports Report

NORTH ADAMS – The MCLA Athletic Department hosted over 60 participants in their 23rd annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day cele-bration held on Saturday, Jan. 21. The event also celebrated the 40th anniversary of Title IX.

In total, there were 18 adults, 44 girls and over 70 MCLA stu-dent athletes who participated in the day-long celebration.

Clinics were offered in multi-ple sports, including basketball, soccer, golf and softball. Added to this year’s lineup were new ac-tivities such as pickleball and Zumba fitness.

The celebration was coordinat-ed by MCLA Assistant Athletic Director and Senior Women’s Administrator Dot Houston. Over the past 23 years, the event has grown from halftime partici-pation and activities to a full day’s worth of events.

“It’s a chance to introduce young girls and women to some-thing that could potentially keep them active for years to come,” Houston said. “In the case of girls

grades 3-8, the idea is to get them started young, and the student athletes are here to mentor children.”

Guests of the event included nationally recognized PGA golf instructor Kay McMahon and Barbara Lopiccolo, a national doubles pickleball champion.

Pickleball is referred to as “one of the fastest growing sports in America.”

Following the clinic sessions and morning program, all partici-pants were invited guests for the MCLA basketball doubleheader against Fitchburg State University.

MCLA holds 23rd annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day celebration

NORTH ADAMS – The MCLA men’s basketball team ral-lied from a second half deficit to edge out MASCAC foe Fitchburg State University 84-79. MCLA improves to 3-2 in the confer-ence, 6-12 overall. The Falcons drop to 1-4 in the league, 9-7 overall.

The action was fast-paced all game. Fitchburg held their largest lead of the second half at 66-58 following a 6-0 run with 10:32 remaining. MCLA would re-spond though, and on the heels of a 9-2 burst pull within one at 68-67 just three minutes later. Neither team would lead by more than five the rest of the way.

Fitchburg did hold the lead for most of the half until MCLA took a slim one-point advantage on a Jamal Brown layup with 3:13 to play. The teams would trade small leads until the game was tied at 78 following a Fitch-burg hook shot from Zach Val-liere with 44 seconds left.

The Falcons’ Henneberry con-nected on 9-19 for his 25 points. He was 4-9 from behind the arc.

Fitchburg placed three others in double figures. Mike Ingram-Rubin had 18 points and Valliere had 12.

Jeremy Kimber filled up the stat sheet, finishing with 10 points, six blocks, four assists and

Jamal Brown led MCLA with 22 points

MCLA holds off Fitchburg

WILLIAMSTOWN – Led by 20 points on 8-13 shooting from All-American point guard James Wang, no. 15 Williams men’s basketball defeated NESCAC foe Hamilton, 82-61.

The Ephs improved to 15-3 on the year and 3-2 in the confer-ence with the win, while the Continentals fell to 11-8 on the season and 1-5 in the conference despite 26 points on 11-15 shoot-ing from senior forward Pat Sullivan.

Williams now sits at fifth in the NESCAC, while Hamilton is 10th.

Wang was joined in double fig-ures for Williams by James Kl-emm, Brian Emerson and Nate Robertson, who had 13, 11 and 10 points, respectively. The Ephs shot 48 percent from the field and went 15-17 from the line in the second half and 18-20 overall in the game.

“The thing that may get over-looked is that Wang didn’t com-mit a turnover in 31 minutes,” Williams Head Coach Mike Maker said. “He kept the game really simple, and he was abso-

lutely fabulous, and I thought our senior class was fantastic, be-tween Wang, Emerson and [Jor-dan] Mickens.”

Mickens scored three points and pulled in four rebounds for the game.

“We played with defensive dis-cipline and offensively shared the ball and took high percentage shots,” added Maker. “It was an excellent performance. I think we are getting better, and that’s all you can ask for at this time of the year.”

Center Ken Click joined Sulli-van in double figures for the Con-tinentals with 13 points. Hamil-ton shot 43 percent from the field and 10-13 from the line.

“We only had five turnovers on the game, we shared the ball, we had balanced scoring and we guarded,” Maker said. “I think if there is one fly in the ointment it’s probably our interior defense; they were able to get deep posi-tion on us and get touches in the post, but I thought our guys were competing and they’re difficult to guard.”

Williams gets NESCAC win

All-American guard James Wang again led the Ephs to the win with 20 points.

MCLA again hosted a series of clinics to celebrate the 40th anniversy of Title IX, a law that granted women equal rights to compete on school athletic teams.

three steals. Fitchburg was hurt by a poor performance at the free throw line as they shot just 13-24 (54 percent).

January 26, 2012

SportsThe Berkshire Beacon

Thursday, Jan. 26PHS @ MM 7 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 27Drury @ St. Joe 7 p.m.Sabis @ Hoosac 7 p.m.Lee @ Taconic 7:30 p.m.MG @ Wahconah 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 28Brattleboro @ MM 2:30 p.m.ME @ Twin Valley 4:30 p.m.

Monday, Jan. 30St. Joe @ PHS 7 p.m.Lenox @ Wahconah 7 p.m.Taconic @ MG 7 p.m.Hoosac @ Lee 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 1Smith Voc @ ME 6:30 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 26MM @ MG 7 p.m.Wahconah @ Lenox 7 p.m.ME @ McCann 7 p.m.Lee @ Hoosac 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, Jan. 28MM @ Quaboag 2:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Jan. 31Taconic @ MG 7 p.m.PHS @ Hoosac 7 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 1McCann @ St. Joe 6:30 p.m.Drury @ Lenox 7 p.m.Taconic @ S. Hadley 7 p.m.

Boys’ Basketball Girls’ Basketball

Lee overcomes turnovers for OT win over LenoxKameron Z. Spaulding

Beacon Staff Writer

LEE - After Lenox guard Seamus Ryan was able to tie the game with an and-one pull up with less minute in regulation, the Millionaires again scored first to start overtime taking a 50-48.

The momentum all seemed to be with Lenox, before Aaron Biasin got a bucket for Lee and the game changed again.

From that point on Lee ended the game on 9-0 run and got the home win, 57-50.

Sloppy play plagued Lee all game long. The Wildcats committed over 25 turnovers, a key factor allowing the Millionaires to hang around in the second half.

Zac Kelley was the leader on the floor for Lee with a game-high 22 points.

Leading the way for the Millionaires were Andrew Vickery and Chris Bravo, who totaled 19 and 15 points respectively.

Bravo also had a game-high 18 rebounds. But even with his stellar performance Lee controlled the glass for much of the game.

Monument 58, Wahconah 40

Pete Oggiani led a balanced Spartan attack on his way to a game-high 13 points.

Behind the play of Oggiani, Monument was able to build a double-digit halftime lead, and never gave it up.

Greg Horth was the leading scorer for the Warriors with 10 points in the loss.

St. Joe’s 77, Mount Greylock 73

The Crusaders responded very well after a tough 20 point loss to Lenox and came out on fire en route to a 20 point lead after three quarters.

In the fourth the Mounties made a charge back but ran out of time.

The Crusaders used good ball movement to get three players in double figures for the game, led by Tank Roberson’s game-high 23 points.

Sophomore Tyrell Thomas led the Mounties with 20 points, while point guard Hank Barrett added 17 more.

Drury 54, Hoosac Valley 35

Solid defense drove Drury to nearly 20 point win over Hoosac.

On the offensive side of the ball the Blue Devils were given a big lift by a breakout performance by 6’4 forward Nolan Bird who filled the stat sheet with 23 points and 7 rebounds.

Jake Tietgens joined Bird in double digits for Drury with 12 points.

Trevor Alibozek was the only Hoosac player in double digits and he finished with 12 as well.

Girl’s Basketball

McCann 44, Southwick 32

Ashley Alibozek was red hot all night, including knocking down three 3-pointers on her way to a game high 25 points for

McCann.McCann was able to take con-

trol of the game with a strong sec-ond half outscoring Southwick 25-14.

Southwick struggled offensive-ly with only four players scoring in the game.

Melissa O’Neill was a bright spot though as she led the way with 16 points for Southwick.

Pittsfield 59, Mount Greylock 37

Courtney McLaughlin scored 18 of Pittsfield’s 24 first half points to give the Generals a 24-28 halftime lead, and they never trailed again.

McLaughlin finished the con-test with a game-high 27 points.

Jill Ritrosky was right there to help McLaughlin, getting her own double-double with 10 points and 15 rebounds for the Generals.

Lucy Barrett led the way for the Mounties with 17 points.


Peter Vahle looks to pass the ball. Lenox and Lee played another great and close game this week. Lee was able to hold on and win 57-50.

Local Scores

Tuesday, January 24

Girls Basketball

Pittsfield 59, Greylock 37McCann 44, Southwick 32

Boys Basketball

St. Joe’s 77, Greylock 73Drury 54, Hoosac 35

Monument 58, Wahconah 40

Lee 57, Lenox 50 OT

Swimming

Mt. Anthony boys 48, St. Joe’s 43

Mt. Anthony girls 56, St. Joe’s 36

Pittsfield boys 94, Taconic Hills 59

Taconic Hills girls 95, Pittsfield 73

Monday, January 23

Girls Basketball

St. Joseph’s 51, New Lebanon 24

Drury 54, Hoosac 34Boys Basketball

McCann 41, PVCS 27Pittsfield 64 Taconic 55

Swimming

Wahconah boys 119, Hoosac Valley 39

Hoosac Valley girls 93, Wahconah 77

jan. 26th issue

Documents

eiran gazit

gateways inn

gateways longtime staff

lenox marketing

lenox community

secretary reville

lenox memorial middle

seasoned staff