Dec. 22nd Berkshire Beacon

December 22, 2011Volume II, Issue 31

www.berkshirebeacon.comLenox, MA 01240

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1 Local News 5 College Sports Report 6 Editorial6 From the Tower12 Calendar15 Crossword16 Movies 17 Girl-2-Girl20 Stocking Stuffers

Rumpy’s Tavern un-der fire again

- Page 7

The Berkshire Beacon

Index

Susan Wicker GuererroBeacon Staff Writer

LENOX – January 1 will mark more than the start of a new year for Edward “Ed” Lane, the Lenox Post-master for the past 25 years. It will also mark the beginning of a new life.

By then, Mr. Lane will have retired, leaving him more time for his antique vehicle hobby, home repair work, and his beloved grandchildren, Emma, 4, and Colin, 8 months old.

The son of former Lenox Police Chief David Lane, Mr. Lane grew up in this town where he was born 60 years ago.

He’s been extremely active in the community, including serving as coach on youth basketball and base-ball teams.

He’s also been a fixture in town pol-itics, having served on numerous boards such as Finance, Infrastruc-ture, Parks and Recreation, the Town Library, and the Department of Pub-lic Works, and spent some time as the Assistant Fire Chief.

Still, when asked to be interviewed for a story in The Beacon, he asked,

“What do you want to do a story on me for?”

Uncomfortable in the Limelight

Mr. Lane wants no retirement par-ties in his honor and prefers to remain in the background. He admitted he’s “very low key.”

When he finally agreed to be inter-

Catherine KrummeyBeacon Staff Writer

PITTSFIELD – The Gateway Cit-ies Education Agenda, an initiative from Massachusetts Governor Deval L. Patrick, has found support from Massachusetts Secretary of Education Paul Reville and Pittsfield Public Schools Superintendent Howard J. Eberwein, Ed.D.

Under Massachusetts General Law (Part I, Title II, Chapter 23A, Section 3A), a gateway city or municipality is defined as “a municipality with a pop-ulation greater than 35,000 and less than 250,000, a median household income below the commonwealth’s average and a rate of educational at-tainment of a bachelor’s degree or above that is below the common-wealth’s average.”

In an editorial written by Secretary Reville, he stated, “nearly 55 percent

of students in Pittsfield come from low-income families.”

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, a Commonwealth Education Innovation Fund, will be made available to all Massachusetts communities.

According to the Executive Office of Education website, the Kindergar-ten Readiness Literacy Program will “support at-risk students with an in-tensive program between pre-K and kindergarten, placing special empha-sis on literacy development.”

The Student Support Councils will

Gateway Cities Agenda aims to assist

Pittsfield students

see GATEWAY page 2

Lenox postmaster Ed Lane to begin

new chapter in new year

Photo Credit / SuSan WiCker Guerrero

Edward P. Lane at the Lenox Post Office. Mr. Lane will retire at the end of the year after 25 years of service.see LANE page 8

Happy Holidays

See page 15 for the History of Christmas Trees

2 The Berkshire Beacon December 22, 2011

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provide student support counsel-ors to low-income schools to “connect students and their fami-lies with service providers who have the expertise, resources and authority to solve the problems that are obstacles to student success.”

The Summer English Learning Program will target the 35,000 students in Massachusetts’ gate-way cities that are “English lan-guage learners.”

The Career Academies will help students prepare for college and jobs by “exposing them, early in high school, to career options, meaningful field experiences, such as internships, assessing their career readiness and more tightly linking secondary school achievement with college and ca-reer readiness standards.”

The Commonwealth Educa-tion Innovation Fund will “pro-vide the education sector with the kind of research and develop-ment function common in the business world.”

To increase awareness of this initiative, Secretary Reville re-cently released an editorial to the media titled, “Closing the Achievement Gap: A Gateway Cities Agenda.”

“These five principals and ac-tion strategies form a frontal as-sault on achievement gaps while building a foundation for a 21st century education system,” Sec-

retary Reville said in his editorial. “With these strategies and tools, Massachusetts will continue its pioneering leadership in educa-tion by making sure that all of our children are prepared for success.”

Locally, Pittsfield’s Superinten-dent Eberwein also seems to sup-port the governor’s efforts.

“It’s helpful that the state’s pay-ing attention to the unique needs of a city like Pittsfield,” Superin-tendent Eberwein said. In addition to Pittsfield, the gate-way cities in Western Massachu-setts are Chicopee, Holyoke, Springfield and Westfield.

Superintendent Eberwein add-ed that he, along with officials from the other 23 gateway cities, have been involved in the process of developing the education agen-

da since an early 2011 workshop.“We had an opportunity to

weigh in and shape the gateway cities plan,” Superintendent Eb-erwein said.

The plan for funding the agen-da is yet to be determined. The Executive Office of Education website indicates that the first four programs will be funded “on a competitive grant basis.” For the Commonwealth Education Innovation Fund, the common-wealth is looking to “a public-pri-vate fundraising partnership.”

According to Heather Johnson, the Executive Office of Educa-tion’s Director of Communica-tions, Gov. Patrick will include the agenda in his House 1 Budget proposal in January, but at the time of print, there is no specific value assigned to the agenda’s cost.

GATEWAY from page 1

Photo Credit / Catherine krummey

Students at Pittsfield High School will benefit from Gov. Patrick’s Gateway Cities Education Agenda.

Staff Report

PITTSFIELD – Western Mas-sachusetts Electric Company (WMECO) recently celebrates completion of its second large-scale solar energy facility in the Indian Orchard section of Springfield.

The facility features 8,200 so-lar panels and produces 2.3 mega-watts (MW) of electricity.

WMECO officials joined local and state officials in celebrating the transformation of the former foundry site into a clean, renew-able energy facility.

The Indian Orchard facility joins WMECO’s Silver Lake So-lar facility in Pittsfield as one of the largest in the Northeast re-gion and is the largest in New England.

“WMECO continues to dem-onstrate that large-scale solar can be developed and delivered in a cost-effective manner for our cus-tomers,” said Peter J. Clarke WMECO president and chief operating officer.

“These projects represent sig-nificant progress toward meeting the Commonwealth’s renewable energy goals and diversifying the region’s energy supply with non-carbon-emitting fossil fuels,” Clarke said.

“I’m very pleased to be here with Peter Clarke and other WMECO officials today to make this great announcement,” Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno said.

“This continues to build on my Administration’s vision for green economic development. Seven

months ago we were standing on a remediated brownfield site. To-day, this site is now a tax-generat-ing property and is home to the largest renewable energy facility in New England. I appreciate WMECO’s continued collabora-tion with the City of Springfield,” Mayor Sarno said.

The project brought nearly $12 million of new construction to the region and it will contribute $400,000 of annual property tax revenue to the City of Springfield.

Springfield is one of the two Gateway Communities in WME-CO’s service territory and is home to approximately 65,000 WMECO customers.

WMECO pays approximately $150,000 in taxes to Pittsfield.

“Investments in renewable en-ergy cut long-term energy costs, create local jobs and bring us closer to meeting our statewide clean energy goals,” said Massa-chusetts Energy and Environ-mental Affairs Secretary Richard K. Sullivan Jr.

“We have 67 megawatts of so-lar energy installed statewide—equal to the amount of electricity used by 10,600 households annu-ally—and this project builds on this accomplishment by keeping this economic opportunity here in the Commonwealth.”

The Commonwealth has a goal to install 250 MW of solar gen-eration by 2017.

Under the landmark Green Communities Act (GCA), each Massachusetts electric utility may own up to 50 MW of solar, sub-ject to approval by the Depart-ment of Public Utilities (DPU)

WMECO completes solar project

New facility to produce 2.3 MWs

December 22, 2011 The Berkshire Beacon 3

Catherine Krummey Beacon Staff Writer

LENOX – Josephine Pignatel-li, a Lenox native and current res-ident, is the most recent recipient of the town’s Boston Post Cane Award.

“It’s nice to be famous for a day,” Mrs. Pignatelli, who will be 99 in January, said. “I never ex-pected it.”

The award is given to the town’s oldest resident, with the only stipulation that the recipient has lived in Lenox for at least 20 years.

For the Dec. 17 ceremony at Cameron House, Mrs. Pignatel-li’s current residence, around 40 family members and friends gath-ered to see her receive the award.

“It’s just wonderful to have them here,” Mrs. Pignatelli said. Julee Cassidy, one of Pignatelli’s nieces, presented attendees with a brief biography of her “Aunt Jo.” With the family atmosphere of the ceremony, Mrs. Cassidy natu-rally brought up Mrs. Pignatelli’s importance to her extended family.

“She’s the matriarch of the Pig-natelli family and don’t let any-one tell you differently,” Mrs. Cassidy said.

Mrs. Cassidy also outlined Mrs. Pignatelli’s creative skills, which are numerous.

“She’s a very talented lady,” Mrs. Cassidy said, listing her aunt’s accomplishments as a seamstress, painter and baker.

“She’s made three generations of wedding cakes.”

Mrs. Cassidy detailed Mrs. Pig-natelli’s world travels, education at the Berkshire Business School and career at Berkshire Bank.

“Aunt Jo, you taught us much,” Mrs. Cassidy said, calling Mrs. Pignatelli “a lady with class, dig-nity and grace.”

State Rep. William “Smitty” Pignatelli, Mrs. Pignatelli’s neph-ew, was on hand to support his aunt and present her with a com-mendation from the Massachu-setts House of Representatives.

“If anybody epitomizes Lenox, it’s Josephine Pignatelli,” Rep. Pignatelli said.

Several members of the Lenox Council on Aging (COA) were also in attendance, including board member Shirley Benson, who gave a brief history of the Boston Post Cane Award.

“In 1909, Edwin A. Grozier, Boston Post publisher, created a

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publicity gimmick that became a New England tradition,” Mrs. Benson said.

“Grozier announced his inten-tion to send gold-headed canes to 700 New England towns in Maine, New Hampshire, Massa-chusetts and Rhode Island.”

Lenox’s cane was believed to be lost for a period of time, but was discovered in the Town Hall’s at-tic in 1974. Hinsdale, Lee and Lenox are the only towns in Berk-shire County with the original canes, which are made of ebony with 14-karat gold heads.

To ensure the cane isn’t mis-placed again, Lenox’s cane is

mounted on a plaque above the names of its recipients and hangs in the COA office.

Following the presentation of the cane by Town of Lenox Se-lectman David Roche and COA Senior Services Coordinator Su-san Holmes, the Cameron House provided refreshments for Mrs. Pignatelli’s guests, who were ea-ger to gush about the cane recipient.

“I think it’s great for her to have this honor,” Charlotte Pignatelli, Josephine’s sister-in-law, said. “It’s nice to be honored while you’re still alive.”

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Dick SyriacBeacon Staff Writer

I wanted to use this column space to vent about my electric bill that went from $59.00 for October to $91.00 for November but then I remembered two things: this is not a space for con-sumer issues and it is the holiday season, a time for reflections.

I will use my column inches to recall people who have been a part of my life, comrades that St. Peter decided to book an early tee time for. Folks that I never would have known if it wasn’t for sports (with two exceptions).

Bucky Bullett, WMNB broad-caster of high school sports, never had a critical word to say about the performance of any kid. He “blamed” me for the closing of St. Joe High School of North Ad-ams, he believed that all the funds were needed to keep Cathedral High School in operation.

I was his “boothmate” at many baseball games at Noel Field (now Joe Wolfe) and one day out of the blue he comes out with “John Meaney (of St. Joe) is the best third baseman I’ve seen in 30 years.” John should be very proud, Bucky saw them all.

Linda Connolly and the Con-nolly brothers (Kevin, Mike, Tim and Chris) of Pittsfield were a competitive bunch and excelled at any sport they played. Howev-er the toughest one of them all was Kevin’s wife, Linda. She would not back down from any-one or anything including cancer.

They gave her months to live and she gave us many great years.

Scott Cummings, Cathedral High School ‘65, a teammate who could not do much with a basketball except shoot it, but he did that well. He scored 1,000-plus points, and that would have been 2,000 with a three-point

line. He lost his life while with the U.S. Border Patrol in Texas.

Ray Dotchin, Mr Colt Insur-ance. I thought I knew the man until I attended his funeral, most people I have ever seen in a church at one time. He was in-volved in everything.

A slick-fielding, smooth hitting first baseman for Man-chester High School and University of Hartford he could also play some golf. Somehow we got ourselves into the championship flight of Berkshire Classic @ CC of Pittsfield and were two down after three in the finals when Ray hit it to four inches on fourth and turned to me and said “I think we have their attention.” Fourteen holes later a couple of eight handicaps went to the cashiers window.

Tommy Kateley, one of the best three-sport athletes to ever come out of Drury High School. I can’t imagine how good he could have been with two good knees.

Bill Laston: Nobody was a tougher competitor for Mt. Grey-lock football than Bill, and no one was a nicer guy off the field. If you have not visited Bill Laston Memorial Park in Lanesboro, you should. The effort that was put in by friends and family to make that facility a reality was astonishing.

Joe Piretti, a Lenox contractor, never played much golf until he was 55 years old and then he made up for lost time. He never owned a pair of golf shoes, why bother? He had a pair of water-proof work boots.

I was told that he had made 13 holes in one at Cranwell, many of them witnessed by John Pignatel-li. To research this claim, I checked with former Cranwell

PGA pro John Wells, “Oh yea, he had five on the third hole alone.” (Exception #1, I married his daughter)

Frank Scago: His exploits are well documented throughout Berkshire County but I think what he was most proud of were sons Frank Jr. and Ryan. I competed with Frank and against him and it was more fun when he was an ally.

Tom Sinopoli: St. Joe and NASC stand-out, a great teammate

and friend who made friends ev-erywhere he went.

Gary “Red” Soldato: Another do it all in any sport guy, who should still be here.

Tony Strycharz: Owner of Oak Ridge Golf Club in Feeding Hills Ma. I learned so much just being in his company and he never knew that he was teaching.

John Syriac was born in 1913, oldest of five kids. When he left Trade School in Springfield his scholarship took him to Chap-man Valve U in Indian Orchard to support his family. His father William was the coach of the neighborhood teams because he had the only car.

They would travel all over west-ern and central Massachusetts taking on all comers. Coach Bill would recruit area talent to go along with his four sons, among them, pitcher Vic “The Spring-field Rifle” Raschi, who later would help the New York Yan-kees win six World Series. John’s brother Vincent once told me that John was a much better pitcher than Raschi but he was six years older when the scouts start-ed coming around.

About 45 years later John re-tired and enjoyed 20 healthy

A happy holiday to those who make sports great

years of golf and travel. (Excep-tion #2, he was my father)

Dave Wal, Cathedral High ‘64, NASC ‘72, Dave played three sports well at CHS and hoops at AIC and NASC. He was an edu-cator and administrator for North Adams Public Schools. In the western mass hoop tourney in ‘64, Dave found himself busting out of the pack after gathering in a defensive rebound and leading a fast break.

He looked to both wings and saw no familiar faces. He had two choices, try to pull up and prob-ably be called for a traveling vio-lation or keep going to the hoop. Keep in mind, Dave was 6’3” and 220 lbs. and his dribbling skills were limited. He took it “to the hole” while the defense scattered, and scored.

The following day in the Springfield Union, reporter Garry Brown asked, “What is the differ-ence between Dave Wall and an elephant? The Answer: Dave Wall is #23.

Dave was willing to do the dirty work while everyone else got the glory.

Frank Zoltek: By far, ahead of his time as an athlete and a coach. Did Frank know basketball? For the answer ask anyone who coached against him and Harry Sheehey whom he assisted at Williams College, and anyone who was fortunate enough to work under his tutelage.

Remembering these exception-al people has made me feel both sad and happy but mostly fortu-nate and grateful that I had them in my life at all. Eleanor Roos-evelt said it best, “Many people walk in and out of your life, but TRUE friends leave footprints in your heart”

Merry Christmas to all our loy-al readers and please continue to support our advertisers.

Thursday, Dec. 22Lenox @ Dean Tech 7 p.m.PVCS @ MG 7 p.m.MM @ Hoosac 7 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 23PHS @ St. Joseph 7 p.m.MAU @ WAH 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday, Dec. 27Hoosac @ Greenfl d 7 p.m.ME @ St. Joe 7 p.m.McCann @ Lenox 7 p.m.MM @ Wahconah 8 p.m.

Wednesday, Dec. 28ME @ Franklin Tech 6:30 p.m.

Thursday, Dec. 22Holy Cath @ SJ 6 p.m.Hoosac @ Putnam 7 p.m.MAU @ MM 7 p.m.Lee @ ME 7 p.m.PHS @ Taconic 7:30 p.m.

Friday, Dec. 23Tantasqu @ MG 7 p.m.

Tuesday, Dec. 27St. Joe @ ME 6 p.m.Lee @ WAH 6:30 p.m.Lenox @ MG 7 p.m.Sci-Tech @ Hoosac 7 p.m.MM @ Drury 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, Dec. 28Northampton @ PHS 7 p.m.

Boys’ Basketball Girls’ Basketball

On Friday, Dec. 16 two stand-out Eph football and baseball players met and talked about their third common bond , the Boston Bruins.

Meeting for the first time were current standout wide receiver and outsfielder Darren Hart-well '13 and Dr. Wayne Wilkins '41. Wilkins (known as Earle while practicing in Boston, but now "Wilk" to his many friends in Williamstown) had seen Hart-well perform for the Ephs in football and baseball and is a dedicated Eph football fan and a member of the Williams Sideline QB Club.

The Bruins connection comes in part from Wilkins' past asso-ciation with the NHL team as their team doctor from the sum-mer of 1969 until the spring of 1984. Hartwell will be covering the Bruins in January when he joins the ESPN Boston staff for a winter study independent study project.

Hartwell began his sports writ-ing career last year at Williams when he signed on to cover the Ephs' men's ice hockey team. Last summer Hartwell interned with ESPN Boston writers Gor-don Edes and Joe McDonald in Fenway Park covering the Red Sox. Twenty-four bylines later Edes and McDonald offered Hartwell the opportunity to re-turn to Fenway next summer.

Hartwell decided in the fall that it might be fun to broaden his sports writing resume and seek an independent study dur-ing winter study under the aus-pices of Joe McDonald in TD Bank Garden covering the

Two Williams

greats bond over the Bruins


College Sports Report

NORTH ADAMS - Smith College's Rosa Drummond col-lected 20 points, including a trio of decisive three pointers in the fi-nal two minutes, in leading the Pioneers past MCLA 64-59.

Jen Wehner finished with a double double of 20 points and 12 boards to pace MCLA.

Smith improves to 8-2, while MCLA enters the break at 5-4.

Smith controlled play in the opening half and led 35-28 at the break.

MCLA began to cut into the lead early in the second period.

With Smith holding a 45-35 lead, the Pioneers began to go cold. MCLA would go on a 14-4 run mid way through the period to tie the score at 49.

Smith did not score a point for nearly six minutes in the spurt.

The game would seesaw over the next few minutes leading to Drummond's barrage at the end.

With MCLA holding a slim 55-53 after a Lucy Tremblay free throw, Drummond connected

from the top of the key putting Smith up 56-55 with 2:13 to play.

After a defensive stop, Smith's Devon Quattrochi hit the back end of a two shot foul pushing the lead to two.

MCLA's Alie Dobrovolc slashed to the bucket tying the game at 57 apiece with 1:12 left.

Drummond answered quickly with a triple off a nice feed from Quattrochi on the next posses-sion. Tremblay answered for the Trailblazers with a jumper, but Drummond once again buried the dagger with 25 seconds left in regulation.

The opening period was con-trolled by Smith. MCLA scored the opening four points of the game before Smith answered with a 9-0 run to take an early 9-4 advantage.

MCLA quickly responded to tie the game before the Pioneers used another burst to open up their largest lead of the half at 29-17.

The Trailblazers responded with an 11-6 spurt to close the margin to 35-28 at the break.

Wehner single handedly kept MCLA in the contest as she tal-lied 14 points and eight rebounds in the opening 20 minutes.

MCLA committed 15 turn-overs in the opening period, com-pared to eight for the Pioneers.

For Smith, Lizzy BelBruno scored 13 points in the period in only 11 minutes.

Tremblay would finish with 20 points for MCLA while Dobro-volc would also finish with a dou-ble double with 13 points and 11 boards.

Aside from Drummond, Smith received 13 points from BelBru-no, all in the first half. Quatroc-chi would finish with 12 points, six assists, seven steals, and five rebounds.

MCLA was hurt by 28 turn-overs in defeat.

The Trailblazers are off until they travel to Southern Maine on Dec. 29.

Turnovers cost MCLA women close contest

Bruins.Wilkins who went on to Har-

vard Medical School and then to Massachusetts General Hospital after playing baseball and football for the Ephs joined the Bruins staff at just the right time as he was there when Bobby Orr brought the Stanley Cup back to Boston after a long drought.

Wilkins got the job with the Bruins when John Knowles, the Director of Massachusetts Gen-eral Hospital (and former Har-vard goalie) asked him if he would be interested.

Wilkins got to see and know one of the all-time greats in the NHL compete in Bobby Orr. "There are three things I remem-ber about Bobby Orr that stood out," Wilkins offered. "One, he was unbelievable as a player. He could shoot, skate, pass, rag the puck and defend with anyone. Two, I knew when I saw his knee and what had been done to it in the days before arthroscopy, he would not have a long career. Three, he was a fantastic person, a great humanitarian and he never once complained about his knee."

"You know where I was when Bobby scored the goal to win the Cup," Wilkins asked. "I was on the bench, because it was my younger son Wayne's birthday and he sat in my seat next to my wife Suki. "I said to coach Harry Sinden I did not know where he was going to be able to find me if he needed me during the game because I gave up my seat to my son. Harry told me to sit right on the bench. It was quite a thrill."

When his junior year rolled around, Wilkins was forced to the bench in football because he was carrying the three required lab courses of a pre-med student and he could not get down to practice until shortly after five each day.

Wilkins became a key member of the Eph football team again as a senior, concluding his career with a 19-6 win at Amherst.

Hartwell, who twice has been named All-NESCAC as a receiver and a return specialist, will be hoping to duplicate Wilkins' ca-reer-ending conquest of Amherst as the Ephs will finish next season at Amherst. Hartwell owns the Eph single season touchdown pass catch record (10) and tied the NESCAC record for punt re-turn yardage this fall with 321 yards.

After lunch and before heading their separate ways Wilkins said, "Darren, make sure you say hi to Don DelNegro for me, he's my last remaining connection to the Bruins."

Don DelNegro, the team’s ath-letic trainer, joined the Bruins staff from a five-year tenure as the Director of Sports Medicine at Williams. DelNegro, a native of nearby North Adams, is now in his 18th season with the Bruins.

"I will be sure to do that," said Hartwell shaking Wilkins' hand and wishing him a happy holiday season. A little further up the street Hartwell commented, "Wayne is an amazing man. I hope I'm as active and energetic as he is at 92."


View From the Tower

News Item: The Five Town Ca-ble committee at its last meeting on Dec. 13, in Lee Town Hall is seeking some type of deal on Re-mote Participation by selectmen whereby committee members don’t have to be present to vote.

The towns of Lenox, Lee, Stockbridge, Great Barrington and Sheffield would have to ap-prove the measure after proper notice and a public hearing.

I am totally against any vote by phone or other means. If you want your vote recorded as a member of the cable committee or for that matter any town com-mittee, then you must be present at the meeting.

Meanwhile Martha Coakley has agreed in substance to a mod-ification of the Open Meeting Law, according to one assistant attorney general.

I e-mailed Gregory T. Feder-spiel, Lenox town manager that I was opposed noting I am totally against any vote by phone or oth-er means by a board member not present. I shall contact the other town selectmen by the end of the month to argue my position.

I then contacted Jonathan Sclarsic, Assistant Attorney Gen-eral Division of Open Govern-ment and was told, “Our office recently authorized remote par-ticipation in public meetings. That information can be found in the Attorney General’s regula-tions on their website I then re-layed my thoughts.” I don’t agree and I do not see the need to go

George C. Jordan IIIEDITOR & PUBLISHER

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backwards with doing the town’s business out of camera. I hope you will pass my thoughts along to the AG Coakley.

“I can’t believe she would will-ing agree to such an oversight of taking away a person’s right to confront (argue) their position be-fore a committee’s vote. From the AG’s point of view, we should all just stay home and connect by twitter or some other technical means to express our opinions and hope to God something good comes out of it.

This is not the days after the war when roads were impassible, yet today we live in a society where we share various opinions and out of them hopefully come decisions and legislation for the public good.

I see no good or the creation of a better government by this piece of legislation and thus it should be rescinded ASAP.

First, I did not elect any local official to determine whether he or she or appointed officials should not be physically at a meet-ing. You are either there or not.

I did not authorize any local official to determine on my be-half to install the Adoption of Remote Participation.

Local Public Bodies. The Chief Executive Officer, as defined in M.G.L. c. 4, sec. 7, must autho-rize or, by a simple majority, vote to allow remote participation in accordance with the require-ments of these regulations, with that authorization or vote apply-

ing to all subsequent meetings of all local public bodies in that municipality.

Certainly I don’t buy into any of the reasons listed on the AG’s website.

Bottom line: We are not gain-ing better informed government, we are drifting back to the days of closed meetings and whereby one member of a board can not chal-lenge or agree with another-thus setting an agenda of government not for or by the people.

I may stand alone, but I think a prudent person will agree that members of a board should be present to argue/vote on a matter and not be on some island in the deep Pacific catching the informa-tion on his cell phone or her iPad.

Remember the old adage of “No taxation without repre-sentation” a slogan that originat-ed during the 1750s and 1760s that summarized a primary griev-ance of the British colonists in the thirteen colonies, which was one of the major causes of the American Revolution. Let the ZBA or Planning Board try to implement this idea, then there will be a suit on the bases of law.

This again this is contrary to having open discussions with both elected and appointed offi-cials and if the AG agrees, shame on her. If the Great and General Court agrees, shame on them.....

WOW! I am getting fired up.....I hope my pen doesn’t run out of ink.

Merry Christmas to each of you who have found The Berkshire Bea-con and/or The Berkshire Sonata. Our staff prides itself on delivering you news and features about your community and neighbors.

Thus, in the holiday tradition, we staff members send you our read-ers, and advertisers our best wishes for the holiday.

While our gift to you is coming after the holidays, it is a gift that you will become accustomed to and accept as we continue to make im-provements to our community newspaper.

You, the readers, are a part of the Berkshire fabric as well as our loyal advertisers. We hope you will share the experiences of a Berkshire Christmas with your friends and family whether it is a renewal of friendships, a gathering of friends or just simply enjoying an outdoor sport.

And in the true tradition of Christmas, if you can give something—a kind word, a lift up with food, heat and/or clothing to a person or family less fortunate, you will have achieve one reward without a price tag—the art of giving.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to our readers

Today, we strive for an open-type government whereby actions by various boards are seen as fair, informative and the ultimate deci-sions made with the voters in mind.

Selectmen from the 30-towns in Berkshire County along with the two cities of Pittsfield and North Adams have slowly come to the forefront of individual websites.

No longer do we have represen-tation through county govern-ment whereby they would publish a book of officials annually for the public-at-large. Today we must rely on a handout from local offi-cials or go to the annual town re-port to see the names of both elected and appointed officials.

Yet, we have a chance to drum beat a model for our select board to be as transparent as possible to the voters by having their full and complete names on the individual

town web site with e-mail, ad-dressees, home addresses, phone for home, businesses and cells.

They ran and sought commu-nity support in an election and thus they need to be fully available to answer questions by their constituents

Hopefully, the selectmen, and along with the two mayors and city councilors, will follow the same path to be as transparent as possible.

The goal beyond the elected of-ficials is to have all appointed board members as well.

Finally in the recording of min-utes, the secretary should in the first instance use the full name of each board member and reference those with initials for their opin-ions and votes.

Today we share the Lenox Board of Selectmen contact information with our readers:

Kenneth L. Fowler [email protected] Tucker St(H) 413 637 1130(W) 637-2662(C)413-329-7850

W. David [email protected] 325 Housatonic St.(H) 637-3585(W) 637-9090(C)413-822-4680

Linda (Procopio) [email protected] 112 Walker St(H) 637-3422(W) 637-9893(C) 413-822-9669

Claudia “Dia” [email protected] Old Stockbridge Rd(H) 637-1822(W) 637-4200

John J. [email protected] 351 East St(H) 637-0086(W) 637-0884

Gregory T. [email protected] Dunmore Ct(W) 637-5506(H) (413) 637-3547

Open government means transparency


Bera DunauBeacon Staff Writer

LENOX – The party at Rumpy’s Tavern might be over.

In response to complaints made against the establishment, the Lenox Board of Selectmen chose to separately review Rumpy’s Tavern’s application for renewal of their entertainment li-cense at the Dec. 14 meeting, in-stead of including it with the group of entertainment licenses they renewed at the meeting en masse.

This effort was led by Select-woman Linda Messana, who as-serted that Rumpy’s Tavern had accumulated 26 pages of com-plaints logged by the police since 2006. She also pointed to a letter sent from three Church Street residents complaining to the Se-lect Board about loud music coming from the tavern and the rowdy behavior of patrons out-side, as well as a letter she had sent to Rumpy’s in August 2010 asking them to control their noise. Claiming that patrons from Rumpy’s were often loud in the parking lot at 1:30 a.m., Se-lectwoman Messana advocated town action to curb these issues.

“In light of all the infractions we’ve had, I would like to limit the entertainment till 11 p.m.,” Selectwoman Messana said.

Selectman David Roche agreed with Selectwoman Messana, and suggested that this be done for a trial period of three or six months. Selectwoman Messana said that she’d be in favor of a six-month trial period for the restriction, but that three was too short, and Selectman Roche agreed. Select Board Chairman John McNinch was also favorable to the idea of restricting Rumpy’s license.

The tone of the meeting grew more heated, however, after Judy Pieschel, who lives at 21 Church St. next to Rumpy’s, testified that the loud music and revelry had made her miserable for years.

“I expect to enjoy my home in the evening,” said Ms. Pieschel, “The bass booms right through the wall of my room.”

In addition to the loud music, Ms. Pieschel complained about wild partying outside, saying that people in front of her house had

cursed at her when they saw her looking out at them, and that she’d witnessed a person climbing up on a lamp post.

Mrs. Pieschel’s testimony hor-rified the committee members.

“After hearing this, I would pull their license,” said Select-woman Dia Trancynger, who had remained silent during the previ-ous part of the discussion. “I’d pull their entertainment license for a year.”

Selectwoman Messana then said that she thought that they should make a motion to have a hearing to determine the fate of Rumpy’s Tavern’s entertainment license.

Selectman Roche said that he favored more of a compromise solution, but that he was amena-ble to a hearing.

The board discussed suspend-ing Rumpy’s entertainment li-cense until the hearing took place, but was informed by Town Manager Gregory Federspiel that this could not be done. Town Manager Federspiel did say, how-ever, that the Select Board could limit the hours of entertainment at Rumpy’s Tavern.

The Select Board unanimously voted to have a hearing and re-strict entertainment at Rumpy’s Tavern to no later than 11 p.m. until a hearing takes place.

It appears, however, that the Select Board was partially mistak-en in its actions.

“They didn’t give me an oppor-tunity, like they were supposed

to, to address whatever the allega-tions were supposed to (be),” said Billy Soto, owner of Rumpy’s Tavern, in comments to The Beacon.

Neither Mr. Soto nor one of his representatives was at the meet-ing where the Select Board’s deci-sions on Rumpy’s entertainment license were made. Because of this, Mr. Soto was not able to face his accuser, or address the con-cerns of the Select Board, before restrictions on Rumpy’s existing entertainment license were put into place.

“Whatever determinations they made that night they subsequent-ly determined were illegal,” said Mr. Soto.

Characterizing the events in less dramatic terms, Town Man-ager Federspiel said that he had consulted with town counsel after the meeting and subsequently ad-vised the Select Board against re-stricting Rumpy’s current license.

“They shouldn’t alter an exist-ing license until after they have held a public hearing,” said Mr. Federspiel, in comments to The Beacon.

As such, Rumpy’s Tavern will be able to operate without an 11 p.m. restriction on its entertain-ment license, at least until the hearing on the renewal of that li-cense is held.

The board will hold a hearing on renewing Rumpy’s Tavern’s entertainment license on Jan. 4, as part of their 7 p.m. Select Board meeting.


LENOX – Billy Soto, owner of Rumpy’s Tavern feels that some damage has already been done to his business by the Town of Lenox Select Board’s actions at their Dec. 14 meeting.

“How am I supposed to get a fair hearing after that video has gone on TV and all of Berkshire County has seen that,” said Mr. Soto, referring to the broadcast of the portion of the Select Board meeting where Rumpy’s was dis-cussed, the tone of which Mr. Soto described as hysterical.

Mr. Soto also added that the charged climate created by the meeting won’t allow Judy Pie-schel, who spoke against Rumpy’s at the Select Board meeting, to have a fair hearing either.

“If the telephone calls are any indication, I would suggest get-ting there early if you want a seat,” said Mr. Soto, saying that he was receiving a large amount of support in the community.

As for the allegations them-selves, Mr. Soto questioned the accuracy of Selectwoman Linda Messana’s claims against Rumpy’s, asserting that many of the com-plaints didn’t have names and ad-dresses attached to them, and that others were made against in-dividuals during hours long after Rumpy’s had closed.

Mr. Soto also said that Rumpy’s had never had any trouble getting its entertainment license renewed before.

“We’ve never had any issues with previous applications for our license.”

He also said that he had never personally received any complaints about the noise from Rumpy’s.

“Whoever made these allega-tions….they had many many op-portunities to call me after they spoke to people who have worked

for me.”When asked by The Beacon

whether he had ever received such a call, Mr. Soto responded, “Never.”

Mr. Soto also said that he didn’t think he’d received either Select-woman Messana’s or the Church Street group’s letter, and asked why they hadn’t been followed up with a phone call or email.

Mr. Soto also said that Rumpy’s occupied a unique position in Lenox, claiming that it was the first establishment in town where the gay community had felt com-fortable going,

“From 10:30-1, the majority of people in Rumpy’s are gay,” said Mr. Soto, who also noted that many of Rumpy’s gay patrons work for Shakespeare and Com-pany, Jacob’s Pillow and other prominent employers in Berk-shire County’s creative economy.

Mr. Soto also wonders whether this could be one of the reasons for the complaints against his establishment.

“I’m not accusing her of being homophobic. But could she be? Is that why she wants us to close?” said Mr. Soto, referring to Ms. Pieschel.

Nevertheless, Mr. Soto says that at the Select Board meeting on Jan. 4, he will address Ms. Pi-eschel and tell her that he has tak-en steps, and will continue to take steps, to alleviate her con-cerns about the music and sound coming from the tavern.

“We’ve replaced the door stops. We’ve put up signs, we have mon-itors (at the doors),” said Mr. Soto, referring to actions that have been taken to reduce the es-tablishment’s noise impact.

Mr. Soto added that he would be consulting with his engineer and construction manager at the beginning of the year to see if the noise from Rumpy’s could be re-duced further.

“I’m not accusing her of being homo-phobic. But could she be? Is that why she wants us to close?”

—Billy Soto on the motives behind the recent complaints against his bar, Rumpy’s Tavern

Photo Credit / kameron SPauldinG

Rumy’s Tavern has come under fire for noise violations and rowdy crowds.

Rumpy’s Tavern faces tough questions

Tavern owner strikes back


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Stressed? That’s not what the holidays are

viewed, he quipped, “I’m going to be heckled on this one.”

He’s a slightly built man with blue eyes and gray hair. He’s been a hard worker and, despite 32 years on the job, remains fairly soft spoken.

A postmaster takes care of whatever office he’s assigned to. He sorts mail, handles safety is-sues, is in charge of employees, and so forth.

“It’s not all glory,” Mr. Lane said. For instance, if it snows, one might find the postmaster clean-ing off the front walkway.

The great thing about the job these past decades for Ed Lane has been meeting all kinds of dif-ferent people.

Loves the Grandkids

Regarding being a grandfather, a big smile spreads on Mr. Lane’s face and his eyes lit up with pride.

“That’s when life gets good,” he said.

Prior to becoming postmaster, Mr. Lane worked as rural carrier relief in Richmond and Lee. In total, he’s worked for the U.S. Postal Service for 32 years.

He’s the first to admit there have been “night and day” chang-es in the post office. When he started, no one used computers. Everything was done via scales and charts. Workers used carbon paper and there was lots of paper-work, Mr. Lane said.

Books and bookkeeping were all done by hand. Then, in the late 1980s, computers came along. That was one of the big changes he witnessed firsthand.

Kept Up With Inflation

Mr. Lane said increases in the postal service have kept up with inflation over the years. The post-al service has a lot of employees so it is labor intensive. Package pricing has been competitive with the United Parcel Service and Fed-Ex.

The postal service’s interna-tional mail is a lot cheaper, he said.

More changes are going to be seen such as the possible closing of certain distribution centers as a result of planned consolidations. The centers are the facilities where all the mail is initially handled.

“If you do that nationwide, you can save a lot (of money),” he said.

The consolidations are one of

the plans being discussed. How-ever, he explained that the postal service is a quasi-governmental agency. Congress has to approve bills and subcommittees and cur-rently there is a gridlock in Con-gress, he said.

The post office still has a lot of fans.

Can Do Business for a Long Time to Come

“We are not going to just go away and we are doing business,” Mr. Lane said.

“We can be a viable business for a long, long time.”

It’s important to provide the best customer service possible, he said.

That’s what he has always tried to do and what he instills in his staff of three window clerks to do.

The postal service sends “mys-tery” people into post offices and rates individual offices to see how they are doing.

“We always score high,” he said of the Lenox Post Office.

Good Relationships with Employees

He said he has always had good relationships with his employees.

The decision to retire was to-tally his, Mr. Lane said.

“I’m young enough to do more home repair work,” he said. He also loves antique vehicles and currently has three motorcycles, two trucks, and an antique bulldozer.

“It’s an eclectic bunch,” he said, letting out a hearty laugh.

Some people play golf in the same way Mr. Lane enjoys his vehicles.

He has always liked mechan-ics. His late father, before becom-ing police chief, was a mechanic. Mr. Lane’s brother, David, has his own construction business.

Looking Forward to New Life

Ed Lane’s time at the Lenox Post Office, where he has opened the front door thousands of times, year after year, is soon coming to an end.

“I’m leaving on a high note,” he said. “It’s been a great career for me and my family.”

“I don’t consider this retiring,” he said. It’s just the next chapter of life. Plus, he plans to be around town for a long time to come.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he said.

LANE from page 1

Call 413-637-2250 to Advertise in The Berkshire Beacon


Susan Wicker GuerreroBeacon Staff Writer

PITTSFIELD – Next time an evening out calls for dinner in a local restaurant like Brulees, Fla-vours of Malaysia, or the Dakota, check out the menu for more than the meals.

They are all work of Berkshire Print Shop at 46 West St., not far from Park Square on one end and the Big Y on the other.

The business, owned by Greta and Mark Valuski, has designed and printed a lot of local restau-rant menus.

The owners have also done many jobs for local artists and galleries as well as designed a hand-out for the book, “Dignify-ing Dementia” by Elizabeth Tier-ney of Lenox.

20 Years in the Printing Business

Greta Valuski has 20 years of working in printing under her belt, including 10 at a newspaper. She also worked for the former American Speedy Printing that occupied the Berkshire Print Shop location for 21 years.

“We had the opportunity to purchase it and bought it out-right,” Mark Valuski said.

That was in 2008. The shop opened during the worst of eco-nomic times, he said.

He and his wife and other fam-ily members who help out in the shop all work hard at what they do.

Nothing slips by Mrs. Valuski, he said of his wife.

She noted she has no regrets about opening her own business.

“I no longer work for the man,” she said, with a big smile, while completing numerous tasks in-side Berkshire Print Shop.

Formerly in Automotive Business

Mr. Valuski worked for 28 years in the automotive business before joining his wife and the new enterprise.

He does all of the accounts for Berkshire Print Shop as well as delivery of projects, he said.

The shop does brochures, copy-ing, custom work, graphic design,

offset printing and so forth. It’s a full scale printing shop.

“From large to small, we kind of do it all,” said Mark, a friendly man with a ready smile.

The owners have purchased new, state-of-the-art equipment and are immersed in serving the printing needs of individuals and businesses throughout Berkshire County.

“We are your local printing and copy center, “ Mark said.

Non-Profit Organizations Should See Owners

He noted that any non-profit organizations that need work done should stop by.

“Come and see us for the new year,” he said, indicating he would work on setting prices with the non-profit organizations that are often on strict budgets.

Both Mr. and Mrs. Valuski are Pittsfield natives and of Polish heritage.

In his spare time, Mr. Valuski is

known for making pierogies, a Polish delicacy.

He learned the skill of making them from his aunts and he’s been making them for 17 years.

A pierogi is like a doughy turn-over that can be made with a vari-ety of fillings such as cabbage, meat, cheese, potato, and combi-nations of the previous ingredients.

They can also be made with fruits such as blueberries and prunes.

In many Polish homes, piero-gies are often boiled and then fried in butter.

Mr. Valuski said he uses prime rib instead of hamburger in some of the pierogies he makes. He also has created fillings such as scal-lops and shrimp.

Every culture has certain foods that are made at holiday time. In the Polish culture, pierogies are a must at Christmas.

Consequently, Mr. Valuski makes “200 to 300 at a pop,” at this time of year.

Local printer gives back to the community


The Wind Energy Siting Re-form Act (WESRA) is history; at least for now.

Under pressure from his con-stituents State Senator Ben Downing (D Pittsfield), Co-Chair of the Joint Committee on Telecom, Utilities and Energy and a past supporter of the bill, announced at an energy forum in Great Barrington on December 14 that he would recommend ta-bling WESRA for further study.

The bill stipulates that every municipality with a signifigant “wind resource area,” as designat-ed by the Massachusetts Depart-ment of Energy Resources, ap-point a local wind energy permitting board within 30 days of receiving a letter of intent from an applicant wishing to apply for siting of a wind power project of two megawatts or greater.

Each board would have three or five members and would have the authority to decide whether or not to approve any siting re-quests for wind power projects of two megawatts or greater in their jurisdiction.

Supporters of the bill said that it would help streamline the ap-proval of wind energy projects, and help to increase the amount of green energy produced in Mas-sachusetts. Governor Deval Pat-rick has set a goal of producing 2,000 megawatts of wind energy in the state by 2020.

Opponents, however, asserted that the passage of WESRA would usurp local control. They also pointed to the different ap-peals processes for opponents and proponents of wind power proj-ects as an example of the bills unfairness.

"I think wind power has to be part of the solution for our ener-gy fixes, but I don't believe losing local control is the way to go, so I would have to support my towns who don't support the siting bill," said Massachusetts state Senate President Therese Murray (D Plymouth) at a December 6 Berkshire Chamber of Com-merce event in Pittsfield.

Murray had previously been a supporter of the bill, and her de-cision to oppose it precipitated Senator Downing’s announce-ment that he would advocate ta-bling the three versions of the WESRA bill.

“Based on that listening, based on that research, I plan on mak-ing the following recommenda-tions to my fellow members of the Telecom, Utilities and Energy Committee,” said Senator Down-ing. “I believe that we ought to take the three energy siting re-form acts and put them into a study order. That will effectively end debate on those bills for this legislative session.”

Senator Downing went on to say that he would advocate for the committee to develop siting stan-dards for wind power projects separate from the WESRA bill.

“I think that the committee should work to draft a bill that re-quires the administration to de-velop siting standards,” said Sen-ator Downing. “I think the right siting policy is not to effect the local permitting process at this time and not to effect….our ex-isting environmental laws at this time. I think we ought to develop siting standards first….it’s what I support, and it’s what I’m going to advocate for in this legislative session.”

The members of the Lenox Wind Energy Research Panel greeted Senator Downing’s deci-sion with approval.

The panel was formed to study the feasibility and desirability of installing a wind power project on Lenox Mountain and consists of three pro wind on Lenox Mountain leaning members and three anti wind on Lenox Moun-tain leaning members, along with an alternate from each side.

Both pro and anti wind on Lenox Mountain members, how-ever, have expressed their opposi-tion to the WESRA bill because it would have reduced local control and oversight of the siting process.

“I think Senator Downing made a really courageous move to back off of a bill that he originat-ed,” said anti leaning wind panel member Channing Gibson.

Wind gets placed on the table

Lenox wind committee is happy with the decision


Greta and Mark Valuski, owners of Berkshire Print Shop located at 46 West St. in Pittsfield.



GREAT BARRINGTON – More than 175 members of the Latino Community at St. Peter’s Church, and their children, re-cently attended a symbolic and colorful “Pastorela,” a Latino cel-ebration of the Nativity.

Children dressed as Mary (Di-ana Cando) and Joseph (Kevin Osorio) brought the birth of the Christ Child to life.

An “angel” with huge wings, portrayed by Casandra Martinez, stood near them as well as three regally dressed “kings” (Mauricio Quihpi, Juan Bocel, and Julio Tzamol). There was even a living baby Jesus, portrayed by an in-fant, Diego Bautista.

All of the actors live in Great Barrington and originally came from Ecuador, Guatemala and Mexico.

Some other countries repre-sented at the well attended cele-bration included Argentina, Co-lombia, Nicaragua, and Peru.

The full night of activities, all

held at the American Legion in Sheffield, included a Mass by the Rev. John Salatino. He is the pas-tor of the Latino Community in the Berkshires as well as St. Mark’s Church in Pittsfield.

He was assisted by Deacon Richard Magenis.

Members of the community played guitar during the Mass. Everyone sang, including a group of Mexican nuns who help in the Latino Community.

Ramiro Guerrero, of Pittsfield, coordinator of the Latino Minis-try, helped plan the event. The planning committee also includ-ed Alexandra and Luis Fernandez and Maria and Jose Quihpi, all of Great Barrington. They worked for several months, working out all the hundreds of details that go in to carrying out such an event.

Angela Bermudez of Lee worked since Thanksgiving with a dance group comprised totally of children.

Dressed in colorful costumes, they performed folkloric dances. The little girls swirled their dress-es and the boys tipped their hats,

all keeping perfect time to the music. Following their perfor-mance, they received thunderous applause from the audience.

For more than a decade, Liliana Bermudez, Ms. Bermudez’ moth-er, has successfully run the annual Latino Festival in Lee, held in conjunction with Founder’s Day. She has brought groups to Lee from throughout the United States for that event.

The evening of the Pastorela also included the crowning of several child “princesses.” They were given banners representing virtues they exhibited during the year such as friendship, patience and understanding. The virtues were reminiscent of those shown by the Christ Child.

The many children who at-tended the event all received gifts.

The evening concluded with a dinner, brought by all of the women from the Latino Community.

This type of event promotes the strength and unity of the La-tino Community in the Berk-shires, said Mr. Guerrero.

Kameron Z. SpauldingBeacon Staff Writer

WILLIAMSTOWN - The hu-morous, family friendly Engel-bert Humperdinck opera "Han-sel and Gretel" will be shown live in high-definition at the Clark Art Institute on Wednesday, Dec. 28, at 2 p.m.

The Richard Jones production at the Metropolitan Opera is in English and runs two hours and 25 minutes, including intermission.

The Clark will serve compli-mentary cocoa and cookies at intermission.

Tickets are $12.50 ($10 for members and students) and can be ordered online or by calling 413-458-0638.

The box office will also be open one hour before the performance, and the doors will open at 1:30 p.m.

In Humperdinck's interpreta-tion of the classic Grimms’ fairy tale, Hansel and Gretel get lost in the woods while picking straw-berries and are visited by the Sand-man, who lulls them to sleep.

They spend the night in the forest, guarded by angels, only to awaken and stumble into the clutches of Rosina Daintymouth, an evil witch who lives in a gin-gerbread house and plans to gob-ble them up.

The New York Times raved in 2009 that "This Hansel and Gre-tel is serious opera, if by 'serious' we mean a story with depth, world-class performances, and glorious music. A joy for all ages, it would make a fine introduction for any opera neophyte, child or adult."

Aleksandra Kurzak is Gretel, with Kate Lindsey and Alice Coote alternating as Hansel. Robert Brubaker is the witch who plots to bake them into gingerbread.

The Met: Live in HD 2011-2012 Season continues with "The Enchanted Island" by Handel, Vivaldi, Rameau, and others on Jan. 21; Wagner's "Goetterdam-merung" on Feb. 11; Verdi's "Er-nani" on Feb. 25; Massenet's "Manon" on April 7; and Verdi's "La Traviata" on April 14.

The Clark will host live stream

Dec. 28


The Holy Family includes St. Joseph on the left, portrayed by Kevin Osorio (Guatemala); Mary on the right, Diana Cando (Equador); the angel, Casandra Martinez (Mexico); and the Baby Jesus, Diego Bautista (Mexico.)


The Clark will again host “The Met Live in HD 2011-2012.

Pastorela unites Berkshire Latino community



LENOX – It is the 1890s. Imagine you have received an

invitation to join Sarah and George Morgan for Christmas dinner, along with guests from, Scotland, at Ventfort Hall.

The mansion’s sumptuous din-ing room has been made even more elegant for the holidays. A large, decorated tree that includes beautiful red roses stands to one side of the room.

The roses perfectly match more red roses that are part of the ta-ble’s centerpiece. There’s a silver plated Canadian epergne, too. Filled with Scottish berries, it in-cludes dramatic pheasant feathers.

Monogrammed Napkins

The Morgans have used a pris-tine white tablecloth and mono-grammed napkins. The mono-gram is an overlay of Ss and a center M representing the lady of the house, Sarah.

Stunning and colorful English china, dating to 1865, is in front of every place setting at the long table. It is a dinner service from

1865, made by Ashworth, an English china company. The col-orful designs of the plates are reminiscent of Japanese or Imari designs, extremely popular in England at this time too.

The long, elegant and massive table runs in front of the room’s fireplace.

An evergreen wreath adorned with more red roses hangs from the mirror above the decorated mantel.

Ruby Red and Green Wine Glasses

Look at the ruby red Venetian wine glasses as they sparkle in the afternoon sunlight streaming through the mansion’s windows. There are green wine glasses too, a perfect color combination for the holidays. Small English ruby red wine glasses complete the glassware and all are ready for sampling of various wines that will be served at a multi-course dinner.

The above scene has been com-pletely recreated in the Ventfort Hall dining room in 2011 by Thomas Hayes, manager of Coun-try Dining Room Antiques, 178

Main St., in Great Barrington. Anyone who is interested can

come and take a tour of Ventfort Hall which will include the din-ing room.

Mr. Hayes has been decorating the well-known mansion’s dining room since 2001 and every year he uses a different theme. This year it has a Scottish theme.

Roses from Six Greenhouses

The Morgans would really have had access to roses for decorating, Mr. Hayes said, since there were six large greenhouses on the premises.

“American beauty roses were extremely popular at that time,” he said. The Morgan family who had Ventfort Hall built as a sum-mer house also had a home in New York.

They moved into Ventfort Hall in the spring of 1893. Mr. Mor-gan was a successful and very wealthy banker.

Ventfort Hall has an inventory of the home’s belongings at the time the Morgans lived there. Mr. Hayes said he tries to find items that would have been used at that time.

He admits he used a bit of lee-way with the pheasant feathers but they definitely add an artistic touch to the table’s centerpiece.

Multi-Course Dinner

Christmas dinner with the Morgans, according to informa-tion provided in the dining room, may have included soup, beef, game and fish courses at one sit-

ting. Then, there would have been various dessert and fruit courses.

Guests would definitely not be rushed since dinner could take several hours. Given the magnifi-cence of the surroundings, it’s safe to guess that no one would be in a rush to leave.

Also on the table, Mr. Hayes has placed two English Stafford-shire statuettes. They represent two figures from British lore.

Historical Statuettes

Robert the Bruce (1274 – 1329) was the king of the Scots. He se-cured that country’s independence from England. Also known as Robert 1, he supported William Wallace’s uprising against the English, according to the infor-mation sheet in the dining room.

The fictional character, it is noted, is Will Watch or, the Bold Smuggler. That name is based on an early 19th century sailors’ song of the same title.

According to the same infor-mation sheet, lyrics of the song tell the tale of a smuggler’s prom-ise to his lover, Black Eyed Sue.

He told her that if his next journey was successful, he would mend his ways and “anchor ashore.”

Unfortunately, the authorities caught up with his ship and Will was shot. His crew buried him, according to his wishes, on the beach in the dead of night.

The tablecloth used on the din-ing room table this Christmas was a gift to Ventfort Hall from a descendent of the Morgans.

The flatware used is of different patterns of the late 19th century and represents both American and European silversmiths.

Mr. Hayes, originally from Chicago, was president of the Edith Wharton Restoration and Historic Preservation.

An expert on dining room an-tiques, he has also run a travel business, Classical Excursions, with Lani Summerville for 30 years.

He has traveled to most Euro-pean countries and Italy and Vi-enna are two of his favorite places to visit.

Mr. Hayes was also in charge of the Berkshire Designer Showcase currently on the second floor of the mansion.

Different designers decorated rooms throughout the second floor and they are open to tours for the public until mid-January.

Incidentally, Mr. Hayes noted that all of the china and glassware in the mansion’s dining room are for sale.

The antique business he man-ages will be closing in the coming year and everything is 60 percent off, he noted.

Volunteers as well as Lenox Garden Club members all helped put up Scottish-themed decora-tions in the mansion, including the red rose-studded Christmas tree in the dining room.

No doubt guests in the 1890s who attended Christmas dinner with the Morgans had a merry holiday and visitors visiting the mansion today will have a peek into an opulent style of living that never really goes out of style.

Christmas dinner at

Ventfort Hall


Looking into the Ventfort Hall dining room, with the fire-place at the far end.


The main table in the Ventfort Hall dining room set for a Christmas dinner in the 1890s, decorated by Thomas Hayes.


Community Calendar

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

Anna ShippeeBeacon Contributor

For some reason popcorn has been associated with Christmas, whether it comes in the ball vari-ety (which is one of those things that just sound better than they really are) or a giant tin of cara-mel and cheese popcorn with a festive motif that was peddled by some Boy Scout.

So needless to say I am not usu-ally the biggest fan of this pop-corn trend!

However during my Thanks-giving adventure I discovered a new variety of popcorn from my grandparents. My grandparents are dairy farmers but they also make maple syrup and delicious maple treats.

For the recent "Buy Local" day they created Maple Caramel Pop-corn & Nuts to sell at a local cre-perie and I instantly thought that this would make an excel-lent Christmas treat!

Maple Caramel Popcorn & Nuts6 cups popped corn ( we use air

popped corn)1 cup roasted salted peanuts 1 cup maple syrup1 cup sugar1/2 tsp. white vinegar2 tbsp. butter

Place popcorn in a large but-

tered pan. Add nuts and toss. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

In a heavy-bottom pan bring syrup, sugar and vinegar to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. Cook, without stirring, washing any crystals down sides of pan with a brush dipped in cold water until a bit of syrup dropped into cold water forms a long thread around 240º on a candy thermometer.

We found this to be a bit too high temperature to get cara-mel to mix and coat popcorn be-fore it gets too hard. Stir in but-ter until melted.

Pour caramel mixture over popcorn and mix gently. Bake for 1 hour. Cool and break apart into chunks.

I found that after I took the popcorn out of the oven a let it cool for a few minutes and I needed to stir up the popcorn to re-coat the popcorn because a lot of the maple had gone to the bot-tom of the pan.

After that I let the popcorn cool completely.

I hope you guys enjoy this reci-pe, it is provided by my grand-mother (Grace Hargrave). And if you are in St. Lawrence County, NY -go visit Brandy View Farm.

Maple popcorn just in time

for the holidays

Photo Credit / anna ShiPPee

Maple popcorn can be a great new way to serve the winter classic this season.

ThuRSdAy, decemBeR 22nd

2ND ANNUAL HOLIDAY SHOWCASENorth Adams, 7 p.m.Minerva Arts Center is proud to announce open auditions for the 2nd Annual Holiday Showcase, a wintertime variety show that plans to warm the Northern Berkshire melting pot and fill you with holiday cheer.

FRidAy, decemBeR 23Rd

SIXTH ANNUAL COM-MUNITY CRIBAND CHANUKAH DINNERPittsfieldChanukah menorah lightings (participantsare encouraged to bring their own) and a tableside Shabbat Service. Stories andsongs for all ages will follow. A dinner will then be served featuring chickenand latkes. Please bring donations of clothing (including coats), baby formula,diapers, books, and toys.

MAHAIWE TO PRESENT TWO HOLIDAY MOVIESGreat Barrington, 7 p.m.Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center will present special holiday screenings of It's A Wonderful Life on Friday, (FREE general admission) and of The Polar Ex-press on Wednesday, December 28 at 6:00pm ($6 general admis-sion). The Mahaiwe, 14 Castle Street

mondAy, decemBeR 26Th

GHOSTHUNTING SOUTHERN NEW ENGLANDLenox, 7 p.m.For his illustrated talk, Lake will cover some of the thirty legend-ary haunted places, all open to

the public including Ventfort Hall, which he researched for his new book. These are first-hand accounts having interviewed peo-ple who swear by their paranor-mal experiences.

OPEN MARRIAGE: REN-EGADE WIFE OF THE GILDED AGELenox, 7:30 p.m.Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gild-ed Age Museum opened its 10th summer theater season on Wednesday, June 29, with the world premiere of Open Mar-riage: Renegade Wife of the Gild-ed Age.

TueSdAy, decemBeR 27Th

THE BERKSHIRE HEALTH SYSTEMS BLOODMOBILELee, 9 a.m. – 2 p.m.The Berkshire Health Systems Bloodmobile will be at the fol-lowing sites through the end of the year: All units donated with the Berkshire Health Systems Bloodmobile stay in Berkshire County and go directly to local patients in need.

NAPL YOUTH SERVICES PROGRAMS DURING SCHOOL VACATIONNorth Adams, 10:30 a.m.Toddler Time, suitable for ages 1-3 with special guest reader, State Senator, Gailanne Cariddi. All programs are free and do not require pre-registration. All chil-dren must be accompanied by an adult. For more information, please call the NAPL Youth Ser-vices Department at 413-662-3133 ext. 14. North Adams Pub-lic Library, 74 Church St.

WedneSdAy, decemBeR 28Th

PROSTATE CANCER SUPPORT GROUP

Pittsfield, 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.Berkshire Medical Center’s Care Navigation program has devel-oped a prostate cancer support group that will meet monthly at BMC and is open to prostate cancer patients and their loved ones. The support group will meet on the fourth Wednesday of each month from 4:30 to 5:30 pm in the Radiation Oncology office at BMC.

DAVID GROVER AND GROVER'S GANG WITH THE BTG CHILDREN'S CHORUSStockbridge, 7 p.m.Berkshire Theatre Group is thrilled to announced David Grover and Grover’s Gang with The BTG Children’s Chorus at The Unicorn Theatre, 6 East St., Wednesday, and Thursday, David Grover’s unique children’s show is the perfect Holiday event for the whole family.

THE RELUCTANT DRAGON WITH PUPPE-TEER CARL SPRAGUELenox, 3 p.m.Puppeteer Carl Sprague, whose annual performances at Ventfort Hall have delighted everyone with their old-world style and hu-mor, will present a production of Kenneth Grahame’s classic fairy tale The Reluctant Dragon.

MAHAIWE TO PRESENT HOLIDAY MOVIEGreat Barrington, 6 p.m.Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center will present special holiday screenings of The Polar Express, Wednesday, ($6 general admis-sion). The Mahaiwe,14 Castle Street, Box Office Hours: Wednesday through Saturday from noon to 6:00pm and three hours before show times. Movie tickets are available in person only.


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Janel harrisonBeacon Staff Writer

During the holidays we often reflect on our lives and the deci-sions and journeys we make along the way.

When the snow melts and the first signs of spring awaken, there will be a few fresh, enthusiastic couples out there with big imag-inings of building their dream homes.

And so after experiencing the whole crazy, sometimes monoto-nous, exhausting, revitalizing and always hopeful experience, I thought I’d enlighten you on the lessons we learned.

Whoever decides to build a house must be prepared for a few things:

My Personal Ten Live and Learn Warnings

to Building a Home 1. Never-ever completely trust

your contractor because they lie and many lie very well. Get ev-erything in writing. Especially and this is where we missed (bang-bang-banging my head on the wall) an end date for framing and septic because there is so much more after that.

2. Always know that your house is going to cost a lot, much more than the quote you started out with. You may be liv-ing on ramen soup for a while once the mortgage kicks in.

3. I hope you have a glacier-hard strong marriage because this will test it to the brinkity-brink! My builder joked with me: Build a house, lose a spouse. Don’t wor-ry, I’m still married, but no mat-ter how right matched you are, you can’t agree on everything. Time to compromise.

4. Yes there is definitely a four. Do not sign off for your windows with the kids yelling and playing in the background. They may not be what you want and guess what? If they’re a special order they’re not going anywhere! Un-less of course it was the orderee’s error and in our case, thank you, it was, and I got the win-dows I wanted. Phew! Windows are a big, big thing! Huge. When

you have the opportunity to choose and you’re spending your hard-earned money, you just want what you want.

5. Make sure that the associa-tion, if you happen to be moving to a private road, isn’t run by the Wicked Witch of the West, al-though she’s got nothing on our lady-monster people.

6. Do not pay your builder the money to start the septic unless you are completely sure it will be started and there is no chance of the weather changing fast, be-cause if winter comes, the money will vanish and no septic until only God knows when. It’s quite upsetting.

7. Here comes number seven, let’s see, well that’s good, I’m thinking... listen and heed the words of your building inspector always, or any other warnings that may come into your ears.

8. Go to LampsPlus.com for lighting fixtures. I love chande-liers and got some great prices on beautiful European stuff which I happen to adore. But you can also pick from all styles, whatev-

er yours may be. Ok, not so much a warning anymore, and still good even if you’re not building and are looking for a touch of extra ambiance.

It helps too if your hubby is a brilliant electrician or any trades-man for that matter, bonus.

9. The kids will love to peek at the barn swallow nest in your soon to be laundry room. So sweet.

10. Finally- I know some of it sounds just plain awful; on the other hand if it’s what you truely want, I say listen and go for it!.And know of the immense ac-complishment of building your dream-house with the people you love the most in this world; the precious space where your family will grow and eat dinner together, laugh and cry, read and write, garden and bird-watch, sing and oh yes, dance, dance, dance. With much faith and a lot of hard work, white chocolate, flowers and other goodies, it’s all worth it in the end.

Best wishes to those who dare to dream!


You’ll never catch the crazy guys down at Dog Fish Head consulting a focus group, but if you drop by you’ll probably catch them chatting with the regulars and listening to their re-quests. Heck they will even lis-ten to yours.

The number one thing Dog-fish lovers ask for at their on lo-cation pub, during tours of their brewery and on their website? According to Dogfish founder and president Sam Calagione it is gluten-free beer, by far.

“It seems as if lots of folks who have gluten- tolerance is-sues are pining for an interesting beer,” said Calagione. “While there are a few well-made exam-ples that mirror traditional beer styles, there aren’t any off-cen-tered offerings.”

This new market of beer is re-ally growing. The first interna-tional gluten-free beer festival was held in February 2006 in Chesterfield, England, and since then the market has blown up.

Formulas for home brewing gluten-free beer are even popu-lar now. Most of these include a sweet sorghum syrup as the principal carbohydrate. This is commercially manufactured from sorghum grain to be a malt substitute and contains amino

acids and unfermentable sugars needed for yeast nutrition and "mouth feel.”

Gluten-free home brewing is now easy with commercially available gluten free home brew-ing kits containing the sorghum syrup, hops, yeast and other items. The one downside to these brews is they still generally cost far more to brew.

But back to Dogfish, and en-ter fruit-forward Tweason’ale.

For their first new 12-ounce four-packs in nearly half a de-cade, they replaced the classic barley foundation of beer with a mild sorghum base.

The hints of molasses and pit-fruit are balanced by vibrant strawberry notes and a unique complexity that comes with the addition of a malty buckwheat honey.

Calagione believes that health-conscious beer drinkers and the millions of Americans who suf-fer from Celiac disease can cut back on gluten while relishing the distinction and drinkability of this very special brew.

Tweason’ale is a seasonal for between the seasons. It will first hit shelves in late January 2012 and will be released four times a year through their national net-work of distributors. Which means by the end of next month it will be on the shelves here in the Berkshires.

Gluten free beer?

Think before you build

Photo Credit / Janel harriSon

ABOVE: Janel and her children during construction.BELOW: Their house lit up for the holidays.


Janel harrisonBeacon Staff Writer

Do you remember your very first Christmas tree? A starry eyed child gazes at its sparkling beauty.

A feeling of enchantment is in the air as the fragrant scent of pine creeps under your nose, and as you hang your perfect angel ornament on the tree you are re-minded all at once of the magic of the season.

The first seasonal trees existed way before you and I, and even long before the advent of Christianity.

Pagan cultures used to cut boughs of evergreens in Decem-ber and hang them over their doors and windows to recognize the Winter Solstice: the time of the year with the shortest day-light hours and the longest night.

Many feared the sun would never return again leaving every-one to freeze.

While deciduous trees, bushes and crops all died and hibernat-ed, evergreens remained alive and green.

And so it was believed that the evergreens possessed magical powers to withstand the rigorous winters.

In many countries it was also thought that the evergreens would ward off witches, ghosts, evil spirits and illness.

Along with the Pagans, the an-cient Egyptians, early Romans, and the fierce Vikings all had their own beliefs and traditions, deeming evergreens as plants of the Gods.

The legend of St. Boniface runs back to the 7 century when a monk traveled to France preach-ing the word of God. He used the triangular shape of the Fir Tree to describe the Holy Trinity of God the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.

The people revered the Fir Tree as “God’s Tree.” And by the twelth century trees were being hung upside from ceilings in cen-tral Europe as a symbol of Christianity.

It wasn’t until 1510 that the first written record of an upright decorated Christmas tree was erected in Riga, Lativa when men

of merchants laced the tree with artificial roses symbolic of the Virgin Mary, and danced around it.

Later in Alsace, Germany, now a territory of France, de-vout Christians brought un-decorated trees into their homes sold at local “Christ-mas markets.”

Laws limited the size to a mere “eight shoe lengths” which is a little over four feet.

By the 1600’s it was com-mon for trees to be decorated with apples in remembrance of the early Romans’ celebra-tion of Adam and Eve’s day on December 24, marked in the early Christian calendars.

Into the 1700s decorated trees began to spread as pieces of silver, gold, paper flowers, lace, glass, even wafers and golden sugar twists, anything one wanted adorned them.

It’s also said that Martin Luther decorated his tree with lighted candles to show his children how the stars twin-

kled in the night sky. Themed trees became very

popular with the British Roy-als in the 1800s when orna-ments of all kinds were created.

Small bead decorations and tinsel were brought from Ger-many along with an angel to sit on the tree-top, and the spread of the Christmas trees tradition grew wider and wid-er across the globe, and into America in the late 1800-1900’s when German and British soldiers brought their tree customs here, all to the present day.

When we think of “com-munity” at Christmas time, we look to our town Christ-mas Tree, and as we pass in our cars or by foot, and gaze upon its luminescent glory, we are once again reminded not only of the spirit it holds, but of the magnitude of one silent night.


The tree in Park Square is how Pittsfield honors the Christmas tree tradition.

The history of that Christmas icon, the tree

A look at traditions throughout time and around the world



Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is quite simply a lot of fun.

Any adaptation of Sherlock Holmes is generally judged by two different groups of people: the public at large, who simply expect to see a good detective sto-ry, and fans of the original novels and short stories, who are also looking to see one of their favor-ite characters realized on the big screen.

Unfortunately, while many Sherlock Holmes movies succeed on the first count, they often-times miss the mark on the second.

This persistent fact was one of the reasons why director Guy Ritchie’s 2009 film Sherlock Holmes was such a resounding success.

Sherlock Holmes treated the general public to an exciting movie starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law with witty dia-logue, memorable art direction and plenty of action. Fans of the books, meanwhile, finally got a cinematic adaptation that stayed faithful to the stories upon which it was based.

This might sound surprising to those who haven’t read any Sher-lock Holmes, as Guy Ritchie’s film was as much an action movie as it was a mystery, with a touch of steam punk sensibility thrown in for good measure.

After all, the popular image of Sherlock Holmes is that of a fas-tidious egghead, while his com-panion, Dr. John Watson, is gen-erally portrayed as a portly, older dimwit.

In the books, however, Holmes is an eccentric slob as well as a highly-effective physical combat-ant, while Watson is younger than Holmes, intelligent in his own right, and in excellent shape.

These elements are essential to the characters that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created, and are rarely found in most cinematic Sherlock Holmes adaptations, so seeing them expertly realized on the big screen in Guy Ritchie’s film was a real treat for Holmes fans like myself.

Likewise, Sherlock Holmes: A

Game of Shadows continues to use the spirit and substance of the rich source material upon which it is based to form an exciting and engaging story.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows picks up shortly after where Sherlock Holmes left off.

Dr. John Watson, played by Jude Law, is preparing to marry his fiancé, and has moved out of the flat at 21B Baker St. that he has shared with his friend, the fa-mous consulting Det. Sherlock Holmes, played by Robert Downey Jr., for quite some time.

Holmes, meanwhile, has be-come locked in a deadly cat and mouse game with Professor James Moriarty, played by Jared Harris, an arch criminal who hides his activities behind a respectable front as a university professor and public intellectual.

Moriarty has been secretly di-recting a series of bombings across Europe, and Holmes is de-termined to discover Moriarty’s motivations for these acts of ter-ror and to stop him before his master plan can come to fruition.

As he was in the first movie, Robert Downey Jr. is fantastic.

Eccentric, arrogant, and bril-liant, Downey once again hits the character of Holmes squarely on the head. The same can also be said for Jude Law, whose respon-

sible and readily exasperated Wat-son provides the perfect foil for the outrageous Holmes.

The best part of Guy Ritchie’s first Sherlock Holmes movie was the chemistry between Holmes and Watson, which was a pitch perfect blend of affection, frustra-tion and harassment, that cap-tured beautifully the relationship that can be found in the books.

A Game of Shadows also ac-knowledges the homosexual and asexual elements of Holmes’ character (also apparent in the books), getting them down even better than Sherlock Holmes did.

Another great part of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is Jar-ed Harris’ portrayal of Prof James Moriarty.

Played with a calm and deliber-ate menace, Harris’ Moriarty is a villain that is sane, reasonable and absolutely terrifying.

It should be said, however, that Sherlock Holmes is distinctly light fare. While the overall plot is bet-ter than the first film, it is not ex-plored enough in order for its conclusion to be anywhere close to cathartic.

Still, Sherlock Holmes A Game of Shadows is certainly worth your time, especially if you’re a fan of action movies, period pieces and/or Sherlock Holmes. It aims to entertain, and on that front it succeeds admirably

Rae A. eastmanBeacon Contributor

Pat Conroy is quite simply the best contemporary writer I know. Others feel the same way. On his comment page one fan said: “Can’t wait for your next – I’m in limbo – Hurry up!” He is the au-thor of nine books, several of which have been made into mov-ies – The Great Santini, Prince of Tides, Beach Music and others.

He is also the author of My Reading Life in which he tells – often in hilarious and/or irrever-ent style – what has gone into making him the writer he is to-day: his mother’s insatiable love of books; a beloved teacher with whom he exchanges insults; a cantankerous, lonely librarian; his ever-changing life as an army brat; the virtually continuos beat-ings he received from his father.

His honesty in turning ele-ments from a personally tumul-tuous life into fiction is no less than stunning; his search for the right word, he admits, often ago-nizing. Finding it, however, is one element that makes his writ-ing so compelling.

“Novels I have lived will live inside of me forever.” Gone With the Wind, for example, which his mother read to him when he was five years old, “shaped the South I grew up in more than any other book.”

What Margaret Mitchell caught so perfectly was the irre-deemable loss; of a backwater Camelot corrupted by the man-nerless intrusions of insensate invaders.”

With this pervasive sentiment – and he gives the reader further understanding of the South’s state of mind – it was possibly in-evitable that his going off to an island off the South Carolina coast to teach 18 black children of grades five to eight would lead to catastrophic events in his life.

“None knew the Atlantic Ocean washed up on the shore of their island; never heard of Hal-loween or of Washington D.C.” He filled them in; took them to Washington. He even went so far as to stage Dickens’ Christmas Carol, ending up playing Scrooge himself.

But whites in Beaufort did not

My Reading

Life

Pat Conroy

352 pages

Kindle: $13; Hardcover: $15: Paperback, large print: $18.25

appreciate his sentiments. As one neighbor told him, he had just finished his “nigger book,” and he’d tack my worthless hide on a barn door I ever put him in one of my nigger books.” I took im-mense satisfaction in the secret knowledge that I used this man’s name for one of my characters and that he would limp forever thru my fictional world as a black man.”

As he learned that his brother sisters were being “hassled by sul-len white students” and he had no chance to land a job in Beau-fort, he moved his family to At-lanta where he discovered a won-derful bookstore - “at an early age, I had turned to reading as a way for the world to explain itself to me. Here at last I had stum-bled into a store that would open up a hundred universities for my inspection.”

A salesman sent by his publish-er to Atlanta to teach him how to be a published author. “His mouth was a thin line underscor-ing a disapproving face and it lay closed beneath his brow like a lesser blade in a Swiss army knife.”

Then he went to Paris, think-ing it would improve his writing – which he felt was much need-ed. “I was sentimental, often di-sastrously so; I was over-dramat-ic, showy with adjectives, safe with form, weak on verbs, over-reliant on adverbs, confused ban-ter with wit and dialogue.”

And finally, Conrad – in effect – takes a brief, colorful one-sen-tence walk with some of the au-thors or books that had such meaning for him during his life-time - bringing the book to a brilliant, whirlwind finish.

A wonderful “Reading Life”

Book Review:

Credit / Warner BroS

Sherlock Holmes is back and better than ever


Girl-2-GirlChristmas

TearsJanel harrisonBeacon Staff

Ho-ho-ho gals! Let’s talk about what relationships mean at Christmas time.

Some wholeheartedly fresh and new with all the hopes and dreams on the horizon, some aged like fine wine to the very point when you’re finishing each other’s sentences, and yet some sadly, just broken.

Christmas and the holidays seem to accentuate all that. It’s like a giant amplifier to our emo-tions. “Will I get engaged?” “Will he buy me that fur coat?” “Will we go on a vacation to that warm island, any island?” “Will we make up?” “Will he tell me he loves me?” “Will we finally take this to the next level?”

We amble outside and gaze into the dotted night sky, in wonder of it all, ask the cosmic questions and some of us who love to dream (writer points to self ) make a wish on the first star.

It’s Christmastime after all, and our wish is definitely heard, be-cause a wish on a star is like a prayer.

I remember one Christmas with my hubby, it was our first one together and things moved quite quickly. Some of us though have to wait for the other, who may love you right to the moon, they may just not be where you are in the relationship, and in their quest for security, and other details, things tend to move slow-er. Be patient, but not too pa-tient, remember the whole cow scenario?

Anyway, back to my hubby and me. Well I hoped for the prover-bial “Christmas engagement,” but ended up with a dainty brace-let fit for a nymph, and I do love fairies, pink sapphire it is, with tiny leaves of white gold, but still, it wasn’t the ring, and I was pretty disappointed. Okay, so I did get that ring, the exact one I picked out, for my next birthday in April, while vacationing in Flori-da at my parents’.

He wanted to ask my dad for my hand, which was so sweet. Gotta love an old-fashioned man.

I remember it well, it was the morning of my birthday. I was still in my nightgown and glasses tottering out of bed.

He led me to the sofa, sat me down, got down on his knees and proposed right in front my par-ents, my mom oo-ing, ah-ing and loving every minute of it, not to mention videotaping the whole thing.

So if your guy doesn’t come up with a rock or proposal this Christmas, don’t penalize him too much, he may have another plan, just as mine did, and the future outcome was worth a few Christ-mas tears.

As for those of you who are broken up with during the holi-days? It happens to all of us, and I know the timing is atrocious. I spent holidays alone, either alone because the relationship I was in wasn’t going anywhere, or alone because I needed a break from the games you sometimes have to play whether you want to or not when you’re in one.

But you know, I always knew that one day my holidays would be filled with everything I desired as they are, and thanks to plenty of eggnog spiked just right, along with loving family and friends, those holidays were pretty special. And I know yours will be too.

I am the eternal optimist al-ways wishing on a star, looking for the gold at the end of the rain-bow, and always searching for the good in this world of ours.

I truly hope that with your hol-idays, your Christmases, you find the most important things, the special gifts we are given that mean the most this time of year and all year through, and you know in your heart what those are and what great things they stem from. As for all the hustle and bustle, bustle and hustle, monetary stuff, bah-humbug to that!

I adore the words of Judy Gar-land in one of my favorite Christ-mas classics, Meet Me in St. Louis, “Have yourself a merry little Christmas, let your heart be light!”

- Ciao Bella

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Mailing Address:PO Box 638

Pittsfi eld, MA 01202

Telephone: 413-445-4548

Fax: 413-447-8856


Susan Wicker GuererroBeacon Staff Writer

PITTSFIELD – Christmas came early this year to the Robin-son household in Pittsfield with the birth of twins on Nov. 29.

Susan Robinson, The Berkshire Beacon’s talented and hard-work-ing graphic ad designer, delivered little Emmeline and Sebastian five weeks before their actual due date on Jan. 1.

Wearing tiny Santa hats hand-knitted by their mama, the twins sleepily cooperated to have their photo taken for Beacon readers.

The mama, tired but happy, also graciously consented to a photo, just days after being re-leased from the hospital.

Although premature, the ba-bies are strong and healthy.

Their papa, Kevin Robinson Greco, has been helping take care of the little ones.

“It’s amazing,” he said of their arrival in the world.

Susan, who is used to putting in many hours a day on her job for the Beacon, is now burning

lots of midnight oil with the babies.

“It’s a lot to get used to,” she said of motherhood. “It’s very time consuming.” When she’s not burping, changing, cuddling and feeding the twins, chances are you’ll find her back at her computer.

Emmeline weighed four pounds and 10 ounces at birth and her brother weighed in at a hefty five pounds and eight ounc-es! Still, the babies appear very tiny.

They lift perfectly formed tiny fingers into the air and scrunch up their little faces.

Regarding her little daughter, Susan said, “She’s got dimples.”

All the staff of The Beacon join in congratulating Susan and Kev-in on the birth of their beautiful little babies.

They have already received the most precious Christmas gifts imaginable.

As for Emmeline and Sebas-tian, welcome to our world, little ones!


Beacon graphic designer, Susan Robinson, with her twins, Emmeline and Sebastian, born November 29th.

Congratulations and welcome to the family


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Anna ShippeeBeacon Contributor

Now that we are in the full hol-iday swing its time to start baking like the season. I love gingerbread men.

So this weekend I felt festive and I wanted to make them. But I did not have a recipe and so I just googled one.

I ended up with a Betty Crock-er (which claimed to be gift mate-rial) and I trusted the Betty Crocker name as she has done me no harm in the past. Now most of the time with Betty you cannot go wrong, well this time you sure could.

The gingerbread was very cake like, I tasted more fl our than mo-lasses, ginger, and cinnamon. I know this may not be popular but I hate cake so naturally a cakey-cookie is not my thing.

I mean the BC cookie has 7 cups of fl our- holy gluten! It tast-ed like a gingerbread cookie that was mass-produced and shipped out for millions aka store-bought!

I am not hating on Betty (truth

be told I love her) but this cookie was no good and I now have doz-ens of them (hence the 7cups of fl our)!

So I went and found a winner of a recipe for you to use this year.

So after looking around I was surprised who made the recipe I love the most. It turns out that this is the Better Homes and Gar-dens recipe. I just love it. It is such a strong spiced taste; the ginger really shines through.

They are great as cookies but my family loves to cook them a bit longer and use them as crack-ers with brie.

This combination may sound a bit strange but trust me and try this for your next holiday party-you will need puff pastry, a brie wheel, a favorite jam and some gingerbread cookies.

So take your brie and cut it in half. Place the jam in between the two circles ( you could also use apples and walnuts if desired but I love using raspberry jam) and then seal the inside of the puff pastry.

Bake until golden brown and puffed, then enjoy!

Solving the gingerbread mystery this year


Remember these numbers: 4, 9, 10, 13, 16, 17.

The Pick-6 Lotto, they’re not. But they are winning numbers, nonetheless.

Two of them are Saturdays – Dec. 10 and Dec. 17. The other four are Exits from the Cellar.

A shortage of brewing capacity and plans to exit Cherry Hill for bigger digs in Somerdale, about 10 miles south, have iced any hopes of Flying Fish releasing this year’s trio of brews under the Exit Series banner, as was the per-year plan when the brewery began re-leasing the specialty brews in 2009.

This year, it’s been Exit 9, and Exit 9 alone, that saw release.Alas.

Flying Fish is a small craft brewery who opened up shop in Cherry Hill, NJ back in 1996. They have grown to be the big-gest craft brewer pn MY amd

they ship all the way up here to The Berkshires.

But with everything that’s been going on at Flying Fish, some-thing had to give. So the brewery has come up with another Exit strategy.

Which means, Flying Fish is digging into its private stock of previously released Exits, namely Exit 4 American Trippel, Exit 9 Hoppy Scarlet Ale, Exit 13 Choc-olate Stout and Exit 16 Wild Rice

Double IPA, and making the 750 milliliter bottles available for pur-chase during Saturday tours of Dec. 10th and 17th.

As most everyone knows, Exit 4 is available in six-packs these days. But in the big bottle, with the ruby-red wrapping on the top, it’s the original release.

Exits 1 (oyster stout), 6 (Wal-lonian rye) and 11 (hoppy wheat), sadly, are history.

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PITTSFIELD – During this busy time of year, as many people plan holiday parties and elaborate dinners, there are people in the community struggling to survive.

Sometimes, when Ellen Mer-ritt, the new executive director of the Christian Center, comes to work, there are people outside the door waiting to come in for a cup of hot coffee and a warm space.

“There are people who sleep in the park across the street,” she said.

“I worry about homeless peo-ple,” she said. When it’s 5 p.m., cold, and snowing, some people have no home and bed to go to.

She said her heart wants to open the doors, distribute blan-kets, and let them stay but boundaries also have to be made.

Wide Range of Services

The Christian Center, a human services organization that has a wide range of offerings, sees a fair share of people who face poverty on a daily basis.

Right now, rather than iPads and flat screen TVs, a crying need at the center is for boots, coats, hats,mittens and shoes for both adults and children, said Ms. Merritt.

“We want to be able to give people what they need,” she said. She was referring to a clothing boutique housed at the center. People need to register and meet income guidelines in order to ob-tain items.

Good quality, clean clothing is always in demand, too, to stock the boutique.

Keep Food Pantry Stocked

Food is constantly needed for the center’s food pantry. Ms. Merritt has started a nutrition program, through a city grant, focused on people who have dia-betes and hypertension.

There are cooking classes of-fered. Consequently, lower sodi-um foods are very welcome. There’s always a need for tuna fish, peanut butter, canned fruits,and other low sodium

products, she said.

Christmas Gifts for Children and Teens

“A lot of people do depend on us for Christmas presents for their children,” Ms. Merritt said.

This year, the Center is zoom-ing in on teenagers. Any items a teen would use would be appreci-ated such as sweatshirts, some electronics, nailpolish and so forth. Presents for teen boys are also needed.

“We will help lots of families with gift giving,” this holiday sea-son, Ms. Merritt said.

Ms. Merritt pointed out that the Christian Center never charg-es money for anything. At Thanksgiving, they distributed 300 food baskets that included turkeys.

They also served 350 meals to shut-in and the elderly. With a team of 58 volunteers, they served 75 turkey dinners on the premises.

Also in the works through the Christian Center is development of Transition House, housing for people getting out of jail who have no where to go. Participants will pay $100 a week in rent and will have to be working or able to do volunteer work.

It will be a safe place for former inmates to live and help reduce recitivism.

The program will be run in conjunction with the Sheriff ’s Department and Reconnect, a program run by the Berkshire Community Action Commission.

A New Life Chapter

“We will give support to start a new chapter in their lives,” Ms. Merritt said.

People who would like to be-come mentors to help partici-pants of Transition House can talk with the executive director.

No mentor program has yet been initiated but it’s something Ms. Merritt would like to see come to fruition. Sometimes hav-ing support can make all the dif-ference in the world.

Like snowflakes on a winter’s day, the needs of the Christian Center and the population it serves go on and on endlessly.

Give a helping hand at the holidaysMr. Jerel T. Golub, current

president and chief operating of-ficer of the Golub Corporation, parent company of Price Chopper Supermarkets, was named presi-dent and CEO of the 128-store chain effective January 1.

At the same time, Mr. Neil Gol-ub, the company’s current chief executive officer and chairman of the board, will serve as the long-standing family-managed compa-ny’s executive chairman of the board.

Jerry is Neil’s cousin, store offi-cials said.

Mr. Neil Golub has held the position of CEO since September 2000 and also served as president from 1982 to 2010.

He will continue to have over-sight for legal and internal audit functions, while working on de-sign concepts for the next genera-tion of Price Chopper stores.

“It’s gratifying to realize the val-ue of succession planning at all levels of our organization,” said Mr. Neil Golub, who has pro-moted the concept for decades.

“I am very excited that Scott

will be joining the Price Chopper team,” said Mr. Jerry Golub. “We are confident that the consider-able experience and proven lead-ership skills he brings will help us to achieve our long-term goals.“

Based in Schenectady, NY, the Golub Corporation owns and op-erates 128 Price Chopper stores.

The American owned, family-managed company prides itself on longstanding traditions of in-novative food merchandising, lead-ership in community service, and cooperative employee relations.

Price Chopper names new CEO


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Inexpensive Stocking Stuffer Ideas For Kids

by Jeffrey Strain

After all the gifts have been pur-chased and placed under the tree, that is the time that many remember in a panic that the stockings over the fireplace still need to be stuffed. Holiday budgets have most likely been spent and there isn’t a whole lot of extra money available. Even with a limited budget, there are a number of quality stocking stuffer ideas that are both practical and will bring a smile to to faces of the little ones.

If you are at a complete loss of what to get, take a trip to your lo-cal dollar store and walk the isles. There should be a large selection of goods at a price that is right for you to choose from which should quick-ly fill up the stockings. In addition, consider the following Christmas stocking stuffer ideas that can have a dual benefit:

Batteries: Instead of wrapping up the batteries with the gift, separate them into stocking stuffers. Since you’d need to purchase them any-way for the toys, they aren’t an extra expense. By separating them out, you make a start on your stocking stuffing and the kids will love them because they can start playing any electronic devices they received.

School Supplies: Here is another practical stocking stuffer that you’d have to purchase in the future for your kids anyway. You kill two birds with one stone by getting them the school supplies they need and filling up the stocking a little more.

Holiday Stocking Stuffer Ideas!

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Dec. 22nd Berkshire Beacon

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