Lisa Ziegert was killed on April 15, 1992. Her killer has not been found.

AGAWAM – Whenever Kimberly Souders-Murray met up with her best friend Lisa Ziegert at the local Friendly’s Lisa would always order black raspberry ice cream, a vanilla coke and french fries to share.

Souders-Murray listed that as one of the many things she remembers about her friend who was killed on April 15, 1992. Now, 20 years after her death, Lisa’s family still does not know who killed the young woman loved by so many.

Many family and friends gathered outside the Agawam Public Library Sunday to remember Lisa and release white balloons in her honor.

“I’m overwhelmed to see so many people here,” said Diane Ziegert, Lisa’s mom.

Lisa, a graduate of Westfield State University, worked days as a teaching assistant at Agawam Middle School and nights and weekends at Brittany’s Card and Gift Shoppe on Walnut Street Extension in Agawam. On April 15 she was raped and killed and left in the woods where she was found four days later on Easter Sunday.

Many people spoke about Lisa, her warm smile, her love of children and her love of friends and family.

Souders-Murray read a statement sent by another one of Lisa’s best friends Susie Wilkinson-Hay, who now lives out of state. She wrote about their many sleepovers, their discovery of a “peppermint tree” which she later discovered was a birch tree and her memories of Lisa dancing at her wedding.

“Most people remember April 15 as tax day, for me it’s the day I lost my best friend,” she wrote.

City officials including Mayor Richard Cohen and detectives who have worked on the case over many years also spoke.

Cohen said he remembered meeting Lisa when his brother worked at Agawam Middle School.

She had a smile so bright it lit up the room, he said.

Souders gave a touching speech talking about the many experiences the girls shared since they met in sixth grade from playing footsie with a boy in class to discussing majors once they were in college to the blood oath they took when they were teenagers promising to be friends forever.

“When she died I was afraid I would not remember,” she said. “But I do remember her unruly chestnut hair, her blueberry eyes, her blue suede cowboy jacket with the fringe... I remember she liked the Black Crowes, Billy Joel...she loved to dance and she loved children.”

Diane Ziegert said she is thankful to the many people who keep her daughter’s memory alive. She said over the years more than $90,000 in donations have been used to award scholarships and purchase computers, software for the visually impaired and other items for city schools.

The Community Preservation Act enables the city to assess a 1 percent property tax surcharge to fund projects involving open space, historic preservation and affordable housing.

File photo | The RepublicanAgawam resident Billy J. Chester has launched another effort to put the city's adoption of the Community Preservation Act before the voters.

AGAWAM — Billy J. Chester, who ran unsuccessfully for the City Council last fall, has launched another effort to put the city’s adoption of the Community Preservation Act before the voters.

This marks the third time in recent years Chester has tried to get the issue placed on the local ballot. His two earlier attempts resulted in him getting enough signatures to force the City Council to vote on a resolution calling for a ballot question. However, the efforts failed because his petitions were rejected as not being in the proper legal form.

Chester said last week that City Councilor Cecilia P. Calabrese has agreed to put a resolution calling for a ballot question before the City Council and that he believes having her do that would be simpler than undertaking a third petition drive.

Putting a question on the ballot requires the authorization of the City Council. Calabrese could not be reached for comment.

“The people have the right to vote,” Chester said. “It is time it is put it to the people.”

The city adopted the state act as a local option in 2001. It enabled the city to assess a 1 percent property tax surcharge to fund projects involving open space, historic preservation and affordable housing.

Among the projects the city has used the money for are $1.7 million for the first phase of the School Street Park project, $210,000 for preservation of the historic Thomas Smith House and $248,000 for roof, door and window replacements for Agawam Housing Authority properties.

Since the city started its program, it has collected more than $3 million in surcharges and received more than $2 million in matching funds from the state.

Earlier this month, the City Council voted to approve using Community Preservation Act money to fund $125,000 for designs for the second phase of School Street Park project and $61,750 to pay for designs to restore and renovate School Street Barn.

Chester said he feels it is important for local residents to get a chance to weigh in on the program, which he said he will vote to suspend.

Although Chester said he favors historic preservation of such sites as School Street Barn, he does not like the fact that there is a proposal to modernize it by putting in heating, air conditioning and even, perhaps, a kitchen.

The activist said he would like the building to remain used as a barn rather than turned into an attraction to be rented out.

A similar resolution calling for ballot question was voted down by the City Council 2-9 in June of last year.

Town Clerk Richard M. Theroux said a question could go on the November 2013 local ballot at no extra cost to the city.

“It is time for the people to have a say as to whether they want to continue this program,” Theroux said.

A veterinarian who has cleared Zoning Board of Appeals approval to open an office on Main Street is now turning her attention to negotiating to buy that property.

The Republican | Sandra E. ConstantineThis building at 1775 Main St. in Agawam is being eyed for an office for Massachusetts Veterinary Cardiology Services Inc.

AGAWAM — The Zoning Board of Appeals has granted a special permit for an office proposed by Massachusetts Veterinary Cardiology Services Inc. for a building on Main Street, stipulating no healthy animals shall be kept overnight for boarding.

The board set that condition as well as several others. The special permit was needed for the project because the site has Business A zoning. The Planning Board has already approved site plans for the office.

Veterinarian Nancy Morris said Monday that now that she has received Zoning Board of Appeals approval for the project she can proceed with negotiating to purchase the building at 1775 Main St. The building previously housed the law practice of attorney Anthony C. Bonavita.

Among other conditions set by the Zoning Board of Appeals is that no animals are to be kept outdoors at any time; grass must be cut back on the northwest section of the property to allow for easier traffic flow exiting by Woodcliff Avenue; and an arrow must be posted directing traffic to exit the site onto Woodcliff Avenue.

Morris is currently operating her Massachusetts Veterinary Cardiology Veterinary Services Inc. out of 148 River St. in West Springfield.

Morris has said she wants to treat animals in Agawam on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. She has estimated her office would generate visits by eight to 10 cars a day as appointments are scheduled for one hour.

There will be no emergency work or surgery at the office and almost never any all-night stays, she said.

The back of the house at 585 Springfield St. was gutted and the fire spread to the attic.

AGAWAM — A 2½-story house at 585 Springfield St. sustained heavy damage in a fire Tuesday afternoon.

The fire is out, but not before the back of the house was gutted and the fire spread to the attic. The heat from the fire so intense that it melted the vinyl siding on a garage about 20 yards away from the house as well as siding on the adjacent house at 577 Springfield St.

The fire was reported at about 2:30 p.m. Springfield Street was closed in both directions.

Agawam fire officials were not yet available to provide more details.

This is a developing story; more details will be added as our reporting continues

The fire started on a rear deck and spread inside the house, causing extensive damage to the attic.

This is an update of a story that was first posted at 3:49 p.m. Tuesday

AGAWAM - A fire that started in the rear porch of a two-family home at 583-585 Springfield Street Tuesday afternoon quickly spread inside and swept through the attic, causing an estimated $200,000 damage, officials said.

No one was home at the time of the fire, and there were no injuries.

Two families, totally four people, were displaced.

The fire, which was reported around 2:30 p.m., took firefighters approximately around 45 minutes to get under control, said Deputy Chief Gary Brown.

“Once it got inside, it just ran the attic,” Brown said.

The rear of the house and its two-story porch were charred, as were the edges around each of the attic windows. The heat from the fire also melted the vinyl siding of the garage to the rear of the property and on the house next door at 577 Springfield St.

“It was a good fire,” he said.

Agawam called out a second alarm and also put out a call to West Springfield for mutual aid.

The cause of the fire is not known, but an investigator with the state Department of Fire Services was expected on scene to aid with determining how it started, Brown said.

According to the Agawam Assessor’s Office, the property is owned by Lin Yuching of Agawam

A neighbor, Angela Rodriguez, who lives in an apartment on the next block, said she heard the sirens and smelled the smoke and came to investigate.

“I’ve been here for 16 years and that is the biggest fire I’ve seen,” she said.

She said she was glad no one was inside.

The fire was reported by two workers from Allied Waste who on their collection run through the neighborhood.

Roger Howland and Joseph Calderon said they were driving up Fruwirth Street when they each smelled smoke.

The Republican | Patrick JohnsonRoger Howland, left, and Joseph Calderon, refuse collectors with Allied Waste, spotted the fire at 583-585 Springfield St. and called 911. Calderon then left their truck to go pound on the front door to check to see if anyone was still inside.

Calderon said he looked up and saw flames on the deck of the house on Springfield Street and thought it was a barbecue. “Then I took a second look and I saw the porch on fire,” he said.

They called 911 and Calderon got out of the truck and ran to the house. He started banging on the front door to alert anyone inside. He said it was fortunate no one was home.

In the couple of minutes between the time he ran to the front door and went around to the back yard, the fire had engulfed the entire rear of the house.

Howland said the wind picked up and seemed to cause the fire to spread quickly.

“It’s unbelievable it went that fast,” he said.

Howland in his 18 years with the company and Calderon in his four years, each said they have come across several fires on their runs before, but this was the first time they found one before the fire department arrived on scene.

While they waited at the scene, their refuse collection run was hopelessly behind schedule.
They said their first call after calling to report the fire was to their supervisor.

Calderon said after they explained what was going on, he was OK with them being late.

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A City Council committee is leaning toward not making DePalma pay sewer betterment assessments until he develops his land.

Fusco faces 20 years to life if convicted of the murders. Arillotta will likely face far less than that in exchange for his testimony.

Emilio Fusco

NEW YORK - Mafia turncoat Anthony Arillotta told jurors in an ongoing murder trial in federal court that he and defendant Emilio Fusco toasted the brutal killing of a police informant in 2003 with cognacs and celebrated their new found kinship with a hug.

"It was like a gesture that we had just accomplished something. We were like brothers," Arillotta, a mob soldier-turned-prosecution witness testified in U.S. District Court on Wednesday.

Fusco, 43, of Longmeadow, is standing trial for the murder of street thug and police informant Gary D. Westerman, in addition to a murder conspiracy against Springfield mob boss Adolfo "Big Al" Bruno the same year. Fusco also stands accused of racketeering, drug dealing and extortion as a "made member" of the New York-based Genovese crime family. He had denied the allegations against him.

Wednesday was Arillotta's second day on the witness stand and his second trial in the same Manhattan courtroom as the government's star witness against his former mob cohorts. Last year, Arillotta's most trusted enforcers, Fotios "Freddy" Geas and his brother Ty Geas, and his former boss, Arthur "Artie" Nigro, of Bronx, NY, were convicted on nearly parallel charges thanks in large part to his testimony. Those three are serving life sentences. Fusco faces 20 years to life if convicted of the murders. Arillotta will likely face far less than that in exchange for his testimony.

Anthony Arillotta

Arillotta, 44, also was charged in the case in 2010 and turned government witness shortly thereafter, leading investigators to the wooded lot where he testified that he, the Geases and Fusco shot and bludgeoned Westerman to death before burying him in a wooded lot in Agawam, Mass.

Westerman's murder was one of a string of plots Arillotta testified that he hatched with his inner circles to take out rivals and rats. Westerman was in the latter category, according to Arillotta, and also was his brother-in-law. The second detail took a backseat to the first, Arillotta told jurors.

Westerman had been a longtime partner in crime of Fotios Geas, having been convicted for a tractor-trailer truck heist in the 1990s and serving prison time together. Westerman picked up on all the hustles he and Geas always committed together after they were both released, according to Arillotta, but was never a trusted figure. Also, he drew the ire of Arillotta and his former wife's family when he began dating Arillotta's then-sister-in-law, who was 30 years Westerman's junior.

Arillotta testified his "crew" was alerted to Westerman's status as a Massachusetts State Police informant by Springfield lawyer Daniel D. Kelly, whom he also said toted money between Springfield bar owner and extortion target James S. Santaniello and Arillotta. Kelly has not been charged in the case.

Arillotta told jurors the information advanced a simmering plot to kill Westerman that included two previous aborted attempts in the 1990s and in 2002. But, on Nov. 4, 2003, he said the Geases recruited him and Fusco to help kill Westerman. He said he and Fusco waited in a garage in a home in Agawam where they knew the elderly resident, a friend, was not home. The Geases picked Westerman up at a grocery store and brought him to the house on Springfield Street with the promise of a "score."

"I heard someone saying 'Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!' and yelling ... and a struggle," Arillotta said, adding that he and Fusco emerged from the garage to see the Geases carrying an apparently unconscious Westerman to the backyard, until Westerman began "moving spastically" again.

"Emilio moved around Ty Geas and held a shovel he was carrying over his head and bashed it into Gary Westerman's head," Arillotta told jurors. He said Fusco did that more than a dozen times and he ran back to get his own shovel to respond in kind twice.

Fotios Geas then put his gun to Westerman's forehead and pulled the trigger.

"All four of us picked up a piece of him and dragged him to the hole," Arillotta said, referring to an eight-foot hole in the nearby woods.

Three weeks later, Arillotta testified they carried out a successful contract hit on Bruno, with Fusco urging New York bosses to sanction the murder with confirmation Bruno had spoken to an FBI about Fusco, furnishing the gun to a paid shooter and applauding the killing after.

"He had a smile on his face," Arillotta told jurors under direct questioning by Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel S. Goldman.

Arillotta will resume the witness stand for the third day on Thursday.

The Rice family owned Rice Fruit Farm for more than 100 years; the project needs approval of a zoning amendment at the annual Town Meeting.

File photo | The RepublicanDominic Maloni of Agawam wants to reopen the former Rice Fruit Farm agricultural farm stand in Wilbraham and sell the same things that Jesse Rice sold for many years, including apples, ice cream, pies, muffins, cookies and Christmas trees.

WILBRAHAM — Anthony and Cynthia Maloni of Agawam and their son, Dominic Maloni of Wilbraham, plan to reopen the Rice farm stand at 757 Main St. if a zone change is approved at the May 14 annual Town Meeting.

The Malonis currently operate Cindy’s Drive In on Route 202 in Granby, which sells burgers and ice cream.

The Rice farm stand has been closed for three years. Jesse Rice, the longtime owner of Rice Fruit Farm, died in November 2010 at the age of 91. The Rice family owned Rice Fruit Farm for more than 100 years. A large portion of the property has been preserved as Rice Nature Preserve.

Dominic Maloni said he wants to reopen the agricultural farm stand and sell the same things that Jesse Rice sold for many years, including apples, ice cream, pies, muffins, cookies, and Christmas trees.

Maloni said he is talking to the Rice family’s baker about coming back to work.

Planning Board member Richard Butler said he has heard a lot of “grassroots support” in town for getting the farm stand up and running.

“Everybody is for it,” Butler said. “There is universal support.”

A zone change will be brought to the May 14 annual Town Meeting seeking approval of a zoning amendment for a heritage farm stand mixed use development.

If the zone change is approved, the Malonis will seek site plan approval for the reuse of the farm stand from the Planning Board.

At a public hearing on the proposed zoning amendment on Wednesday, Frederic Fuller said the heritage farm stand use calls for agricultural products to be sold from the region. Other uses such as greenhouse uses, food services and an art gallery also would be permitted.

Frederick Coolidge of Main Street, an abutter to the property, said the only proposed use he would oppose would be a blacksmith shop on the property because it would be “noisy and smoky.”

“We will strike that use,” Butler said.

Maloni said there is very little business on Main Street, so he believes the farm stand will be a welcome use.

The earliest the farm stand will open is September, Maloni said.

The blaze was reported shortly after 11 a.m.

03.09.11 | Photo by Julian Feller-Cohen – The Agawam Fire Department's patch.

AGAWAM - A broken tree limb, hanging near Silver and Garden streets courtesy of last year’s freak October storm, sparked a brush fire late Friday morning when it finally fell and took down two high-tension power lines.

Although initial scanner reports stated that the brush fire was threatening the building that houses Milennium Press at 570 Silver St., that was not the case, Fire Lt. B.J. Calvi said. The blaze, which spread to about a half-acre, was reported shortly after 11 a.m.

“The building was never threatened,” he said, adding that the fire got to within about 75 feet of the structure.

Firefighters contained the fire right away and completed the job a short time later when Western Massachusetts Electric Co. personnel arrived to ensure that downed lines were not energized.

“It’s very dry out there,” said Calvi, adding however, that the blaze was not an explosive one.

The National Weather Service warns of elevated fire risk for Friday.

CBS3 meteorologist Nick Morganelli said rain forecast for the weekend should bring needed moisture throughout New England.

Nearly 200 tons of old, outdated prescription drugs were collected during a November drive.

File photo by David Molnar / The RepublicanSpringfield Police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration collect prescription medications at the third annual "Take Back" initiative at Central High School last fall. Here, Mickey Paul of Springfield, left, brings in her family's medications ang gives them to DEA Intellegence Analyst Jennifer Fafard.

Building on past successes, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will launch the fourth National Prescription Drug Take-Back event on April 28.

The annual event serves to mitigate epidemic prescription drug abuse nationally and provides an outlet for those who may not know the best way to dispose of old and unused drugs.

In the past, the events have raked in countless tons of medications, including 188.5 tons during the most recent national take-back drive which was conducted last fall.

“With the continued support and hard work of our more than 3,945 state, local, and tribal law enforcement and community partners, these three events have dramatically reduced the risk of prescription drug diversion and abuse, and increased awareness of this critical public health issue,” said DEA administrator Michele M. Leonhart.

The drive also will include take-back sites across Western Massachusetts, including at the Springfield Central High School, city halls in Agawam and West Springfield, the Westfield Police Department headquarters, the parking lot of Greenfield High School and other sites, a list of which is available online at the DEA website, http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_disposal/takeback/index.html

The collections will be conducted from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.

The process is as simple as bringing old, unwanted or expired drugs to the designated sites and dropping them off.

From helping to clean up the Connecticut, Deerfield, Westfield and Chicopee rivers and spearheading creation of the Norwottuck Rail Trail to the helping establish the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority, the planning commission has left its mark in 43 cities and towns across the Pioneer Valley.

Photo by Michael S. Gordon / The RepublicanRetired Judge Edward C. Peck Jr., the first chairman of the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, visited the commission's Congress Street headquarters Friday and chatted with current executive director Timothy W. Brennan, right.

SPRINGFIELD – For the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, good news came on a bad day.

On Sept. 11, 1962, the start-up planning group won recognition as a public agency, thus qualifying it for state and federal funding. At a brief ceremony, the state commerce secretary presented the official paperwork to commission chairman, Edward C. Peck, of West Springfield.

But the concept of long-range planning seemed a bit quixotic given the sudden threat of nuclear war. A few hours earlier, Russian premier Nikita Khrushchev set the stage for a superpower showdown by declaring that any American attempts to thwart arm shipments to Cuba would trigger a war.

The Cuban Missile Crisis passed, and the regional planning commission survived – overcoming political opposition and legal battles to emerge as one of the region’s most respected institutions.

On Monday, the commission celebrates its 50th anniversary, a milestone that inspires pride and amazement from its original members.

“It’s remarkable that one group has been able to consolidate the conflicting interests of so many communities,” says Peck, now 95 and retired as a Housing Court judge.

Starting with 10 employees, a $200,000-plus budget and no veto power over projects, the small advisory commission made a big impact on the region.

From helping to clean up the Connecticut, Deerfield, Westfield and Chicopee rivers and spearheading creation of the Norwottuck Rail Trail to the helping establish the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority, the planning commission has left its mark in 43 cities and towns across the Pioneer Valley.

Much of the commission’s work is low profile – getting solar bylaws passed, protecting aquifers and wetlands, pushing for funding for infrastructure projects, according to Timothy W. Brennan, the commission’s current executive director.

Other efforts, such as promoting handicap-accessible housing or organizing anti-domestic violence initiatives, also draw scant public attention, Brennan says.

But, larger projects undertaken by the commission have changed life in Pioneer Valley .

Perhaps its most successful campaign was restoring the area’s pollution-choked rivers. Reversing decades of neglect, the Connecticut River is suitable for swimming and boating above the Holyoke Dam, the standard for rivers.

Work remains on the lower stretches, where sewer pipes in older, urban communities still pose problems, Brennan said.

“But, it’s 50 percent cleaner in Springfield, and it will continue to improve,” he said.

The Westfield River, meanwhile, has won the federal “wild and scenic” designation for rivers with exceptional natural, recreational and historical attractions.

Establishing a regional transit authority was another priority for the commission when it was created; currently, the PVTA is the state’s largest transit agency, with more than 300 buses and vans running in 24 participating communities.

Not every project has been a triumph, though.

For a decade, the Norwottuck Rail Trail, the scenic, 10-mile link from Northampton to Belchertown, was the jewel of the state’s bike path network.

No longer. Since the mid-2000s, tree roots, glass shards in the pavement and year-after-year of repaving delays have led to the nickname the “Norwottuck Nail Trail.”

The commission has also come under fire for opposing some projects – most notably the Route 57 extension in Agawam and Southwick.

While many residents and municipal officials favored pushing the divided highway from where it now ends in Feeding Hills on to the center of Southwick, the commission opposed the project, citing its environmental impact and potential for rapid suburban growth along the highway corridor.

In several years of meetings and public hearings, the commission – Brennan, in particular – drew the wrath of the pro-highway faction, particularly former Agawam state Rep. Edward W. Connelly.

“There were some verbal assaults. People would follow you out to your car after the meetings,” said Brennan, adding that many other residents and officials were respectful. In terms of community opposition, “that was the Big Kahuna for us,” he added.

Connelly, an influential Republican lawmaker who made the Route 57 extension a perennial campaign issue, retired in 1983. He was found guilty in 1990 of reaping $9,000 for no-show consulting contracts at the Agawam-based regional criminal justice training center named in his honor.

For its part, the commission had been scandal-free as its staff has grown from 10 to 50, with a budget of $6.7 million ($2.4 million of which is passed on to other agencies or contractors.) for the next fiscal year.

Despite tangling Connelly and thwarting projects backed by other politicians, the commission has never had to bow to political pressure, Brennan says.

Both supporters and critics are invited to the commission’s open house Monday from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at its headquarters at 60 Congress St. in downtown Springfield. Retro music from the early 1960s will be provided, and Peck will be on hand to cut the 50-year birthday cake.

Looking back over 50 years of fighting pollution, sprawl, economic disparities and social dysfunction, Peck said the commission has reason to celebrate.

“I think they’ve done wonders. I really think they have,” he said.

The committee will gather input on how residents want its $3.6 million in funds used.

Republican file photo

AGAWAM – The Community Preservation Committee has set Wednesday as the date for its annual public hearing to gather input on how residents want its $3.6 million in funds used.

The session has been set for 7 p.m. at the Agawam Public Library.

Henry A. Kozloski, chairman of the committee, said Friday that holding such a hearing is a requirement of the state Community Preservation Act, which the town adopted in 2001.

The committee’s funds come from a 1 percent surcharge on local property taxes. It makes recommendations to the City Council, which has final say over how the money is used.

Of the $3.6 million, there is about $600,000 in its open space account; $328,000 in its historical preservation account; $359,000 in its community housing account; and approximately $2.3 million in its undesignated account that can be used for other purposes, including recreation projects.

The state law allows communities to use the funds for projects they could not otherwise afford and that relate to open space, historical preservation, affordable housing and recreation.

Among the local projects the money has been used for is $1.8 million to help build the first phase of the $2.3 million School Street Park.

Recently, Billy J. Chester, who ran unsuccessfully for the City Council last fall, launched his third bid to put the issue of whether the city should continue its community preservation program on the ballot.

His two earlier attempts resulted in him getting enough signatures to force the City Council to vote on a resolution calling for a ballot question. However, the efforts failed because his petitions were rejected as not being in the proper legal form.

This time, Chester has said he is working with City Councilor Cecilia P. Calabrese to put a resolution calling for a ballot question before the City Council. Putting a question on the ballot requires the authorization of the City Council.

“I think it is probably one of the best programs the town has. If we did not have those funds, School Street Park would not have been built,” Kosloski said. “It is a very economical program. I don’t know why you could get rid of a program so beneficial to the town.”

The program costs the average taxpayer $28.60 a year to fund, according to him.

Since the city started its program, it has collected more than $3 million in surcharges and received more than $2 million in matching funds from the state.

The Community Preservation Committee welcomes new project proposals. Anyone wishing to may submit such proposals to the committee by using the form and guidelines located on its website, www.AgawamCPA.com, or by picking one up at the City Hall Planning Office.

The catchy song plays while Westchesterson shows off some of the region's better known attractions and landmarks.

Who is this man? Well, he goes by the name Dr. Westchesterson, and this is the profile picture included on his blog spot. Westchesterson is a Western Massachusetts musician and rap artist whose "413" video, featuring familiar sites from around the region, has become a local Internet sensation.

A new music video by the rap artist and performer known as Dr. Westchesterson, a self-described blue blood rapper and marijuana enthusiast from Western Massachusetts, has gone viral — and images featured in the catchy clip are bound to be familiar to anyone with roots in the commonwealth's far-flung, oft forgotten hinterlands.

Westchesterson's "413" video, which has popped up on YouTube and gotten heavy local media attention, shows the rapper in front of the Hippodrome in Springfield, Mrs. Murphy's Donuts in Southwick and Thornes Marketplace in Northampton, among other landmarks in the so-called "413," the area code for the four counties that comprise Western Massachusetts.

Throughout the 3½-minute video, Westchesterson has his trademark Sherlock Holmes-style pipe tucked between his lips. He also seems to have his tongue firmly placed in his cheek, blending clever, sometimes cheeky rhymes with funky beats and hooks.

But not much is known about Westchesterson — the hip-hop handle created by the Agawam native — who so far has managed to avoid divulging his real name (not surprisingly, there are no Westchestersons in the phone book) while doing the local media rounds over the past few days and promoting his video on his Facebook page and his blog spot. His Facebook page says he went to Agawam High School and Amherst College, and his favorite musicians and movies all seem to have a marijuana theme in common.

Westchesterson's lyrics are as fresh and local as Hadley asparagus. His appearance — a brown sport coat, orange shirt and vivid-colored tie — can best be described as cool-nerd chic, a cross between Zach Galifianakis and the Beastie Boys.

"I am humbled and amazed by the outpouring of sentiment shown by the good people" of Western Massachusetts, he wrote on his blog after Friday's release of the "413" video. Westchesterson says he digs all the attention he's getting, but he says he'll live if the video vanishes into obscurity tomorrow: "If it all ends after this puff of smoke dissipates and the Dr. fades into everyone's memories as a quirky little Internet distraction from their Spring 2012 ... I'll be okay with it."

Acknowledging that the region known as "Western Massachusetts" actually contains four counties, Westchesterson has fielded gripes from people in the Berkshires and Franklin County who'd like to see "their particular little corners" represented in a Westchesterson video. That, says the doctor, can only mean one thing: He plans to make another video that includes even "more gems and hidden treasures of the 413."

WATCH the "413" video:

The one person who spoke during a public hearing on the proposed fiscal 2013 School Department budget thanked officials for being willing to spend more money.

William P. Sapelli

AGAWAM – The School Committee Tuesday approved a fiscal 2013 School Department budget of $36,488,490, an increase of $1,983,340 or 5.7 percent over this year’s spending plan.

The plan was proposed and promoted by School Superintendent William P. Sapelli as one that would keep educational services at their current level.

The committee approved the budget by six affirmative votes and a vote of “present” by Mayor Richard A. Cohen, who also serves as chair of the School Committee.

Cohen said he always votes "present" on the School Committee budget to reserve the option of adding to or cutting from the spending plan based on what the city can expect in terms of local aid from the state. Currently, the amount of state local aid the city can anticipate for the next financial year is unknown.

The budget now officially goes to the mayor so he may incorporate it into the entire city budget that he expects to submit to the City Council by about May 15. The council then has until July 1 to make any cuts to the plan, otherwise the mayor’s budget takes effect by that date.

There was no debate on the School Department spending plan, for which a public hearing during the School Committee meeting took up just a few minutes. The only resident to speak during it was Dina J. Miller, a parent who lives on Paul Revere Drive.

She encouraged the committee to approve the budget as presented by the school superintendent and thanked officials for coming up with that plan. Following the meeting, Miller said she was heartened that officials realized that now is the time to spend more money on education to keep the school system moving forward.

A chart submitted by Sapelli to the committee shows the amounts of School Department budgets for the following years: $33,989,637 for fiscal 2009, $33,989,637 for fiscal 2010 and $33,909,498 for fiscal 2011 and $34,505,150 for fiscal 2012, the current financial year.

Sapelli has described the fiscal 2013 spending plan as a fiscally responsible one that will meet unfunded state and federal mandates.

His proposal takes into account negotiated contractual salary increases for five collective bargaining units, vocational educational tuition increases, transportation cost increases, special education cost increases and increased costs associated with the new teacher evaluation system. The proposal would keep all existing staff and services as well as replace teachers who are retiring.

It includes $431,046 to cover 2 percent cost-of-living raises for teachers and $576,502 for teachers’ step raises. A pie chart supplied by Sapelli shows that 79 percent of the proposed budget would go for payroll and the remaining 21 percent for purchased services and supplies.

The defense began putting on its witnesses including Fusco's sister, Angela Fusco, who told jurors her brother traveled to Italy in 2010 to attend her 50th birthday party.

This is an updated version of a story posted at 2:15 this afternoon. Another update is now available.

File photo / The RepublicanEmilio Fusco takes a smoke break during proceedings in 2001 at U. S. District Court in Springfield.

NEW YORK - Prosecutors rested their case Thursday afternoon against accused mob murderer Emilio Fusco after seven days of testimony and dozens of witnesses in U.S. District Court.

The government closed with witnesses that included the Italian police official who arrested Fusco at a bus stop in Santaniello, Italy on July 29, 2010.

Fusco is accused in the 2003 murders of Springfield, Mass., crime boss Adolfo "Big Al" Bruno and street thug Gary D. Westerman, plus a string of extortions, drug deals and illegal gaming rings.

Fusco, 43, an Italian native who immigrated to western Massachusetts in the 1990s, had denied all charges.

Testifying through an interpreter, Massimiliano Guidone said he and eight other investigators with the "Carabinieri" tailed Fusco to Santaniello, where Fusco had rented an apartment in the Italian countryside. Guidone told jurors he hid in a shed near Fusco's apartment for six hours one day, until Fusco emerged on the road nearby and walked to a bar in the town square. The investigator said he finally approached Fusco at a bus stop to arrest him.

The government has argued Fusco fled to avoid prosecution amid intense publicity about a law enforcement dig for Westerman's body in a wooded lot in Agawam, Mass., in April of 2010 and speculation that mob captain Anthony J. Arillotta was cooperating with the FBI and state police.

Arillotta testified against Fusco for nearly four days in this trial under a plea deal, telling jurors he and Fusco were among four men who shot and bludgeoned Westerman to death before burying him in a ditch.

Defense lawyer Richard B. Lind has argued Fusco traveled to Italy to attend his sister's 50th birthday party in mid-April of 2010, and among the witnesses the defense called this afternoon was Fusco's sister, Angelo Fusco, of Quindici, Italy.

Through an interpreter, Angela Fusco testified that her brother arrived for her birthday party a few days before and was delayed in coming back by their mother's health problems and a volcanic eruption that disrupted European plane travel that year.

"I told him not to leave. It's not the right time. My mother was crying," Angela Fusco told jurors.

The testimony had a stuttery feel to it when Angela Fusco became intermittently confused by the questions. She left the witness stand with her brother becoming agitated and apparently scolding her in Italian.

Testimony is scheduled to resume in federal court on Monday.

More details coming on MassLive and in The Republican.

The defense told a judge it expects to call Gary Westerman's widow and a Springfield businessman who was partners with Bruno in an ill-fated cigarette exporting deal in 2002.

This is an updated version of a story posted at 6:15 this evening.

Western Massachusetts mob figures mentioned in the Emilio Fusco murder trial in New York include, clockwise from top left, Fusco and Anthony Arilllotta, and Adolfo Bruno and Gary Westerman, both deceased.

NEW YORK - Prosecutors rested their case Thursday afternoon against Emilio Fusco, accused of two mob-related murders in Western Massachusetts, after seven days of testimony and dozens of witnesses in U.S. District Court.

The government closed with witnesses that included the Italian police official who arrested Fusco at a bus stop in Santaniello, Italy on July 29, 2010.

Fusco, of Longmeadow, is accused in the 2003 murders of Springfield, Mass., crime boss Adolfo "Big Al" Bruno and street thug Gary D. Westerman, plus a string of extortions, drug deals and illegal gaming rings.

Fusco, 43, an Italian native who immigrated to western Massachusetts in the 1990s, had denied all charges.

Testifying through an interpreter, Massimiliano Guidone said he and eight other investigators with the "carabinieri" tailed Fusco to Santaniello, where Fusco had rented an apartment in the Italian countryside. Guidone told jurors he hid in a shed near Fusco's apartment for six hours on July 29,2010 until Fusco emerged on the road nearby and walked to a bar in the town square. The investigator said he finally approached Fusco at a bus stop to arrest him.

The government has argued Fusco fled to avoid prosecution amid intense publicity about a law enforcement dig for Westerman's body in a wooded lot in Agawam, Mass., in April of 2010 and speculation that mob captain Anthony J. Arillotta was cooperating with the FBI and state police.

Arillotta testified against Fusco for nearly four days in this trial under a plea deal, telling jurors he and Fusco were among four men who shot and bludgeoned Westerman to death before burying him in a ditch.

Defense lawyer Richard B. Lind has argued Fusco traveled to Italy to attend his sister's 50th birthday party in mid-April of 2010, and among the witnesses the defense called this afternoon was Fusco's sister, Angela Fusco, of Quindici, Italy.

Through an interpreter, Angela Fusco testified that her brother arrived for her birthday party a few days before and was delayed in coming back by their mother's health problems and a volcanic eruption that disrupted European plane travel that year.

"I told him not to leave. It's not the right time. My mother was crying," Angela Fusco told jurors.

The testimony had a stuttery feel to it when Angela Fusco became intermittently confused by the questions. She left the witness stand with her brother becoming agitated and apparently scolding her in Italian.

Other witnesses for the defense included noted Boston criminal defense lawyer Anthony M. Cardinale, who represented Fusco in a 2001 loan-sharking case that yielded a three-year prison stint for Fusco under a plea deal - and produced a court document prosecutors in this case say effectively sealed a death warrant for Bruno.

Within a presentencing summary for Fusco, there was a reference to Bruno confirming to an FBI agent that Fusco was a "made man" in the Genovese family, which incensed Fusco, according to Cardinale, until the lawyer explained to his client that the reference did not equate to Bruno being "a rat."

"I told him that (if Bruno were formally cooperating with the government) it would never be disclosed in this fashion," Cardinale testified.

The Boston attorney conceded on cross-examination that he has represented a string of gangsters over 35 years as a trial lawyer, including the late Gambino boss, John Gotti.

Defense lawyer Richard Lind told U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel that he intends to call Westerman's widow, Sandra Berardi, to the witness stand, and Springfield businessman Carmino Bonavita, who was a partner with Bruno in an ill-fated cigarette exporting deal in 2002 the defense contends was at the root of his demise in the Genovese family.

Testimony is scheduled to resume Monday in U.S. District Court.

No politician has even been handcuffed in Springfield since the U.S. Justice Department’s anti-corruption marathon ended in 2006.

Former Pelham Police Chief Edward Fleury, former Holyoke acting Fire Chief William Moran and Springfield police officers Derek Cook and Jeffrey Asher, clockwise from top left, are among public safety officials who have faced criminal charges recently. Of the four, only Fleury was cleared.

SPRINGFIELD – Call it a corruption recession.

Not one mayor, state legislator, housing authority director, police commissioner or homeless shelter director has gone to prison in Hampden, Hampshire or Franklin counties in five years.

No politician has even been handcuffed in Springfield since the U.S. Justice Department’s anti-corruption marathon ended in 2006.

Compared to 42 defendants convicted in Springfield alone during the five-year municipal corruption probe, just 31 public employees were charged with crimes and ethical violations in Hampden and Hampshire counties since 2007, a study by the New England Center for Investigative Reporting found.

Overall, that number represent a small slice of the state’s 250 cases, suggesting that public corruption has retreated, or at least taken a holiday in Greater Springfield.

Instead of public figures charged with bid-rigging and no-show job schemes, the classes of 2007 through 2011 featured teachers, jail guards, police officers and firefighters carrying out a smattering of crimes, from falsifying credentials and Open Meeting Law violations to assault, rape and manslaughter.

Two cases featured high-ranking public safety officers accused of endangering the public.

In 2008, the accidental shooting death of a 8-year-old at a machine gun show in Westfield led to a manslaughter charge against Pelham Police Chief Edward Fleury, whose company sponsored the event.

A jury acquitted Fleury of all charges in January 2010.

In 2011, a fire report made by acting Holyoke Fire Chief William P. Moran led to a four-car accident and the chief being charged with making a false emergency call.

In a plea deal this month, Moran was given 30 hours of community service and ordered to pay $500 in restitution after admitting making the false call.

In Brimfield, five call firefighters pleaded guilty to torching three vacant homes in 2010 to relieve their boredom and, according to one, “to look cool.”

Two were sentenced to three-year jail terms, and ordered to share in making $139,000 in restitution; two others were given three-year suspended sentences and restitution. The disposition of the other fifth cases was not immediately available.

Police officers also got into trouble.

In February, a jury convicted Springfield patrolman Jeffrey M. Asher in the videotaped flashlight beating of Melvin Jones III in a case that effectively ended Asher’s career and resulted in an 18-month jail sentence. Before a bystander filmed Jones’ arrest in 2009, Asher was perhaps best known for being cleared for kicking a suspect during another videotaped arrest in 1997.

In July, Springfield patrolman Derek V. Cook pleaded guilty in Hampden Superior Court to assaulting two superior officers during a station house brawl in 2008.

A third former Springfield patrolman was given two consecutive life terms after pleading guilty in 2010 to raping three young girls over a period of years. In sentencing Pedro J. Martinez, who resigned after his arrest in 2009 after two decades on the force, Judge Cornelius J. Moriarty called it “the most sordid case I have ever heard.”

Two teachers were also arrested on allegations raping students. In Chicopee, special education math teacher Donald J. Cushing was charged with statutory rape after a 15-year-old student reported having sex with him several times in his classroom closet.

A former Greenfield teacher has denied charges alleging he raped a former middle school student between 2004 to 2006. Brendan Kenny, 45, taught computer classes at Greenfield Middle School from 2004 to 2005. Both the cushing and Kenny cases are pending.

The job-rigging scandal at the state Probation Department touched down in Northampton in December when Christopher J. Hoffman, acting chief probation officer in Hampshire Superior Court, was charged with intimidating and harassing a witness in the investigation.

The 39-year-old Hatfield resident pleaded innocent and is out on leave without pay pending his trial.

Several public servants, including Stephen P. Lisauskas, former executive director of the Springfield Finance Control Board, were tagged with ethics violations. In 2010, Lisauskas admitted violating the state’s conflict-of-interest law when by steering millions of dollars in city investments to Merrill Lynch despite having an undisclosed friendship with a company broker. He agreed to pay a $3,000 fine to settle the case.

Agawam City Councilor George Bitzas was slapped with a $2,000 fine after suggesting that the owner of John’s Getty Auto on Main Street should take down a sign supporting then-mayoral candidate Susan R. Dawson. Bitzas admitted committing the violation in 2007, and was fined in 2009.

Several government bodies – including the Holyoke Soldiers Home’s governing board and selectboards in Granby and Sturbridge – were also cited for violating the state Open Meeting Law, according to the data reviewed by the investigative reporting center.

The high winds and difficult terrain made the fire hard to fight.

File photo | The Republican

AGAWAM – A stubborn brush fire burned more than three acres of land off 329 Garden St. Sunday.

The high winds and difficult terrain made it hard for firefighters to reach the fire. At first they had to carry in water on cans on their backs until brush trucks finally managed to get close to the blaze, Agawam Fire Lt. Scott Mitchell said.

Firefighters from West Springfield, Southwick and the State Fire Marshall’s office assisted the Agawam department with personnel and they brought extra brush trucks that could reach the fire, Mitchell said.

“Between the wind and the terrain they struggled with the fire in the beginning. The wind had serious gusts,” he said.

The fire started at around 4 p.m. and was extinguished by 6 p.m., but firefighters remain at the location to ensure it does not ignite again, he said.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, Mitchell said.

A week of off-and-on rain helped reduce the previous brush fire risk, but the sun and high winds are starting to dry the soil again, Mitchell said.

Refurbishing the track and tennis courts at the high school also were suggested during a public hearing on possible uses for the city's CPA money.

Republican file photo

AGAWAM — Establishing a central place where city archives could be stored was one of several ideas floated during the Community Preservation Committee’s annual public hearing last week.

The state Community Preservation Act requires such a hearing every year to give residents an opportunity to voice their ideas about how their community's community preservation funds should be spent.

About 15 people attended the hour-long hearing, at the Agawam Public Library, according to Jennifer P. Bonfiglio, the city’s community preservation administrator. Other ideas suggested by residents were refurbishing the rundown track and tennis courts at Agawam High School, she said.

Teresa M. Kozloski, wife of the committee’s chairman, Henry A. Kozloski, suggested establishing an archive for historical city papers and documents. An archive could be used to store such documents as annual town reports, high school yearbooks, letters, documents and School Committee minutes, Kozloski said.

Currently, such materials are kept in various locations around the city such as the Fire House Museum and the Agawam Public Library, she said.

Kozloski suggested that the old public library on Main Street, the Agawam Public Library or the Senior Center might be good places to establish an archive.

“I’m not saying you are going to have a Taj Mahal to begin with, but you have to start sometime,” Kozlowski said. “I wish a group would become enthused over it.”

The city has assessed a 1 percent property tax surcharge since 2003, which comes out to $28.60 on the average homeowner’s tax bill. It currently has $3.6 million in community preservation funds that may be used only for projects involving open space, historical preservation, affordable housing and recreation.

So far, city has collected more than $3 million in surcharges and received more than $2 million in matching funds from the state.

The Community Preservation Committee welcomes new project proposals. Anyone wishing to make suggestions may submit them to the committee using the form and guidelines located on the committee’s website, www.AgawamCPA.com, or by picking them up at the City Hall Planning Office.

Another Marine has been charged in the killing of Bushong, who was on leave from Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Philip Michael Bushong

AGAWAM — Marine Lance Cpl. Philip Michael Bushong, 23, formerly of Enfield, Conn., will be laid to rest Tuesday at Massachusetts Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery.

Bushong, whose father Michael and brother Keenan live in East Windsor, Conn., was stabbed to death April 21 in Washington, D.C., while on leave from Camp Lejeune, N.C. Another Marine has been charged in the killing.

Burial with full military honors will follow the 11 a.m. funeral at Colonial Forastiere Funeral Home, 985 Main St.