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JOHN STEINBECK Low of 55. www.thewestfieldnews.com YEAR IN REVIEW VOL. 86 NO. 151 TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2017 75 cents Gateway Hilltowns look to the future By AMY PORTER Correspondent HILLTOWNS – The Gateway hilltowns of Blandford, Chester, Huntington, Middlefield, Montgomery and Russell continued to work together in 2018 to improve their future outlook, overcoming some significant roadblocks they Residents at Russell Annual Town had been facing for years. Meeting prepare to take historic First, all six towns voted at annu- vote. (Photo by Amy Porter) Westfield Post al town meetings to change the reduced by almost half. 124 players funding formula for their above David Tirrell One of the conditions DESE had minimum assessments to the imposed on the Gateway hilltowns ’18 SPORTS YEAR-IN-REVIEW: (8) and Paul Gateway School district, with per- Shibley (19) cel- to allow the change, was the need to mission from the Massachusetts update their regional agreement to ebrate a District Department of Elementary and 1/2/3 champion- be in compliance with One Person, Secondary Education (DESE). One Vote, which ensures that every ship with team- Instead of basing the assessment mates in July school committee member repre- each year on the student census, sents approximately the same per- after mercying which drastically increased some Agawam 15-5 centage of the district’s population. assessments and reduced others by After a decade of debate, and at Jachym small shifts in their student popula- All-Star Summer Field. (File Photo three or four failed attempts to tions, the towns’ assessments will change the Gateway Regional by Bill Deren) now increase or decrease together By CHRIS PUTZ battle to cancer. Their son, assistant School Committee composition to by the annual percentage increase reflect the requirement of “One Staff Writer coach Matt Irzyk, and daughter Emily, of the Gateway budget. This is the third of a four-part series each tossed out a ceremonial first pitch. Person, One Vote,” the facilitated The vote was most difficult for discussion group charged with try- looking back at the year that was… The post’s Honor Guard led the National the town of Russell, whose student After the high school spring season Anthem. ing again came to a fairly quick population had decreased by 26 consensus in August, with the help came to a close in 2018, Westfield Post In their first season, the Whip City’s according to the March 2018 cen- 124 began its traditional follow-up in Junior Legion team would go on to win of retired superintendents Jay Barry sus, and would have had a $97,000 and Mac Reid of the Massachusetts American Legion Baseball action. the District 1/2/3 championship, rallying decrease in their assessment for Post 124’s season was dedicated to from a four-run deficit to upend Agawam Assoc. of Regional Schools FY19. In order to help persuade (MARS). coach Don Irzyk’s wife, Kim, who passed them, the town of Chester offered to away earlier in the year after losing a See Sports Year-In-Review, Page 9 At the meeting, a vote was taken offset Russell’s increase by $40,000. to retain the same number of seats The offer was persuasive, and from each town, and weigh the Russell as the last town to vote votes according to population rep- effectively passed the alternative resented. assessment method for the towns. With the two biggest obstacles Ultimately, due to increased resolved of revising regional assess- funding from the state, Chester’s ments and school committee com- WHS faces East offset payment to Russell was position, work was set to continue on the rest of the regional agree- ment, to come up with a document approved by a super majority of the Granby High in As committee. That document will go to Christine Lynch of DESE for review, and then through state and School’s Match Wits local legal departments. The last step is a vote of approval by all of WESTFIELD — Students from Westfield High School the six member towns at their town and East Granby, Conn. High School competed in an episode meetings. of As Schools Match Wits Saturday evening at 7 p.m. on th Also approved at annual town WGBY. The match was the third episode of the 58 season meetings was funding by the towns of the show that features high schools throughout Western for Economic Development New England testing their knowledge against each other. Director Jeanne LeClair, who was Westfield High School’s Suvin Sundrararajan, Luke originally hired through a grant to Bacopoulos, Spenser King, and Gabby O’Dea faced off Facilitator Jay Barry of MARS. against East Granby High School’s Cullen Beman, Christian See Gateway Hilltowns, Page 8 Fagnant, David Sales, and Amber Bourgault. Westfield High (Photo by Amy Porter) School began with a strong Challenge Round in which they answered high school trivia questions asked of both teams. The stone sign at However, East Granby came back to take the lead in the dents in the Department of Communications Capitalization Round in which each team took turns choos- Gateway serve as the production crew. WGBY supplies Regional ing categories in a segment that resembles Jeopardy. East the professional producer, broadcast, marketing, Granby expanded on that lead in the following Lightning Schools on and technical support. Littleville Round and ultimately won the match 180 to 145. Although Broadcast weekly during the school year on Westfield High School lost, due to the structure of the show’s Road in WGBY, questions for As Schools Match Wits are Huntington. playoffs they are not eliminated yet. The top eight playoff written by longtime ASMW writer and judge Dr. seeds go to the teams that scored the most points, not neces- (WNG File Todd Rovelli along with WSU faculty and stu- Photo) sarily each game’s winner. dents in accordance with Massachusetts and ——— Connecticut state high school curriculum guide- RETURNING TO THE SET ASMW is a collaborative lines. WSU’s Mark St. Jean of the Department of production of WGBY and Westfield State University (WSU). Communication and WGBY’s Tony Dunne serve Produced using Westfield State University facilities, stu- as executive producers. Southwick Civic Fund delivers toys to families in need By GREG FITZPATRICK bag to each of the families that had requests, he believes this year’s 42 fami- Correspondent signed up to have presents. lies could be a good sign that not as many SOUTHWICK – Just a couple of days Businesses, service organizations and people were in need of toys this holiday before Christmas, the Southwick Civic churches annually participate as drop off season. As long as there is some child in Fund’s Angry Elves Toy Drive delivered locations and donors of unwrapped toys. need of toys on Christmas morning toys to 42 families in need of presents “The adults were very appreciative. It Deedy will keep the Angry Elves Toy this holiday season. worked out very well,” said Deedy. Drive going. Joe Deedy, President of the Southwick “There were definitely some very happy “We’d love to continue until we’re not Civic Fund and owner of Moolicious, folks.” needed and that would be a wonderful said the toy drive consisted of toys Each child received anywhere from thing,” said Deedy. donated for children from the ages of one three to five gifts, with Deedy mention- Prior to organizing the event in 2014, to 15-years-old. Donations were accept- ing that a variety of toys were handed out Deedy, his family, and volunteers had ed until December 12 and volunteers of to specifically meet a child’s interest. helped the West Springfield Park and The Southwick Civic Fund is accepting unwrapped toys the Southwick Civic Fund then wrapped Although Deedy said they usually Recreation Center with their “Operation until December 12. (Photo from Moolicious) all of the toys and delivered them in a receive anywhere from 50 to 100 Santa” for about 10 years. PAGE 2 - MONDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2018 WWW.THEWESTFIELDNEWS.COM THE WESTFIELD NEWS Christmas Tree Drop Off Locations Westfield Wednesday’s 350th Holiday Schedule at WESTFIELD — The City will be providing residents drop off locations for their Christmas Trees this year due to how successful it Lecture Series: Shay’s Rebellion Westfield Gas & Electric was received last holiday season. The City will again monitor the sites so that we are able to get an accurate count on how many trees WESTFIELD — Presented by Dennis Picard, WESTFIELD — In recognition of the upcoming New are collected, to ensure that there is space for further drop offs. All Wednesday, January 9, 2019 at 6:30 p.m. at First Year’s holiday, the 100 Elm Street Business office at trees will be chipped, and repurposed; therefore we ask that the trees Congregational Church, Westfield. Free and open to Westfield Gas and Electric will close at 5PM on Monday, are free of lights, ornaments, and any debris. Drop off areas at each the public.