As we have learned over the centuries, when it comes to burning witches, it doesn’t really matter if you have burned a real witch or just someone who, in your fevered, partisan, and paranoid imagination, could easily become a witch in the future. It is the burning that is the message.
Loretta worked as an LPN at Fairview Hospital and Berkshire Health Care. She then began working as a paraprofessional at Undermountain Elementary School for the next 27 years.
The Berkshire Hills Regional School Committee voted unanimously to send a letter to Southern Berkshire and its five member towns asking to establish a planning group to explore consolidation for grades 9-12
Berkshire Hills School Committee member Rich Dohoney said he is approached by South County residents all the time and the most common question he hears is why Berkshire Hills isn't trying to merge with Southern Berkshire.
"We gather because this week has been too much to bear. Regardless of the circumstances of these events both near and far, these horrors have left families, friends, and neighbors in our world stunned and in shock."
-- Rev. Erik Karas, of Christ Trinity Church
It’s been a tumultuous last few weeks that included a bomb scare, an illegal vote by the school committee, a school committee walking out of a meeting and a vow by the town of Egremont to withhold hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments to the five-town regional school district.
Earlier in the meeting, there had been other surprises: Sears and Chairperson Bonnie Silvers, both of Sheffield, had been ousted from their leadership positions on the committee. Adding to the committee's woes was that the vote was taken in open session, but by use of a secret ballot -- a clear violation of the state's Open Meeting Laws.
Some parents appeared to be confused about whether faculty member Jim Berlstein's post concerned actual safety at the school or his frustration with his own employment situation -- or perhaps the employment situation of everyone on the faculty and staff.
“I feel safe because our community isn’t a place where this could happen. Then again, many communities feel that way. And then it happens.” -- Taylor Slonaker, MMRHS junior
At home and on his morning off on September 11th 2001 he reported to his precinct in East Harlem and then onto the World Trade Center. From September 11th, 2001 until January of 2002 he worked at the World Trade Center site.
Attracting young people and families with children in far greater numbers to the Berkshires is complicated — perhaps even impossible. So we are left with making our schools more viable with fewer resources.