Opponents Susan Dawson, Ronald Patenaude, and James Welch fielded questions focusing chiefly on the economy and job development.

The Republican / Don TreegerDemocratic candidates for the Hampden District Senate seat, left to right: state Rep. James T. Welch, Ronald Patenaude and Susan Dawson, participate in a forum Thursday night at Forest Park Middle School in Springfield.

SPRINGFIELD - The debate among the three Democratic candidates for the Massachusetts Senate Hampden District seat on Thursday evening may win the award for the least rancorous of the season.

Opponents Susan R. Dawson, Ronald Patenaude, and state Rep. James T. Welch, D-West Springfield, fielded questions at Forest Park Middle School that focused chiefly on the economy and job development.

The candidates forum was hosted by the newly formed Coalition of the Democratic City Committees of the Hampden State Senate District.

“It helps with the dialogue of us as Democrats,” said Agawam Democratic Town Committee Chairman Joseph F. Fitzpatrick. “And it might help down the road holding the elected officials accountable. We’re looking for the straight answers.”

The contestants seemed to do their level best, with Welch’s focus on his track record as a legislator, Dawson’s on education and being a “business-friendly” former mayor of Agawam, and Patenaude’s on his passion for labor issues.

The seat opened up when sitting Sen. Stephen J. Buoniconti, D-West Springfield, announced he would run for the Hampden County District Attorney’s office.

There are two Republicans, Kenneth G. Condon and Robert Magovern, vying to get on the ballot in the primary election on Tuesday in addition to the trio of Democrats. The district covers Agawam, West Springfield and parts of Springfield and Chicopee. The host Democratic committees represented all of those

Moderated by WWLP TV-22 reporter Sy Becker, the Democratic forum was crafted largely around submitted questions from the audience, which included dozens of voters and supporters of the candidates. Based on those queries, foremost on voters’ minds were jobs and the economy.

“Jobs, jobs, jobs,” Dawson said in response to several of the questions about economic development. “But I have a plan,” she said, outlining a vision of carving out the region for biotech training in the long-range.

Though there was no mud-slinging, Dawson appeared to proactively deflect any barbs about a high-profile domestic problem that cost her a second term in the mayor’s office after she was attacked by the estranged wife of a man she was dating.

“I’m a little on the scrappy side and I’m not afraid to go and fight for what we need on Beacon Hill,” she said, drawing laughter from the crowd.

Patenaude, a labor union president, emphasized the need for well-paying jobs in the regions after nearly every question - including whether each favors casinos in Western Massachusetts.

“Those jobs should be union jobs. They should be good-paying jobs with good benefits,” he said.

Welch, too, said he has voted in favor of casinos and will continue to support resort-style brands, assuming legislation targets Western Massachusetts as a required site.

“We need the economic push right now,” he said.

Daniel Vinton has been missing since Friday night

SPRINGFIELD – Officials are searching for a man who is in a pre-release program from the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department, after he failed to show up for assigned curfew and other check-ins this weekend.

Daniel Vinton, 28, who is originally from Agawam, has been missing since Friday when he failed to make curfew at the half-way house where he has been living in Springfield. He was nearing the end of a one-year term for receiving a stolen vehicle and was in a pre-release program that allows inmate to slowly return to the community, Richard J. McCarthy, Hampden County Sheriff’s Department spokesman, said.

Vinton is now considered an escapee. He is described as being 6 feet, 3 inches tall, weighing 180 pounds. He has red hair, blue eyes and a number of tattoos including dragons on both arms and a spider on his neck.

The new 30-space lot will provide overflow parking for both the Senior Center and the housing authority.

The Republican file photo / Mark M. MurrayThe Agawam Senior Center

AGAWAM - Officials have broken ground on the final piece of work in the construction of the new Senior Center, an approximately $420,000 parking project.

Ludlow Paving will create a new 30-space parking lot in what is now the lawn between the Senior Center and Agawam Housing headquarters to its rear. The new lot, which will be on housing authority land, will provide overflow parking for both the Senior Center and the housing authority. There are currently 104 parking spaces at the Senior Center.

Mayor Richard A. Cohen said Wednesday the funds will come from the approximately $6 million bond floated to build the Senior Center, which opened about two years ago on Main Street.

At that time, the housing authority moved its offices into the former Senior Center building at 66 Meadowbrook Road, which is located behind the new Senior Center.

Town Clerk Richard E. Theroux, who chaired the building committee for the new Senior Center, said his group worked through two mayors and two Agawam Housing Authority administrators to push the parking project through.

The new parking area will provide about 30 more spaces for the Senior Center, where he said participation in its projects by elders has grown since the new 25,000-square-foot building has opened. The center now gets 60 new seniors a month joining its programs as opposed to the 20 more a month at the old building.

Plans also call for resurfacing of the parking area to the rear of the housing authority building as well as installation of a lighting system for all the parking lots serving the Senior Center and housing authority.

Officials hope the project will be completed by mid-October.

“I’m very, very happy. It is good for the town and the housing authority,” Scott L. Macey, chairman of the Agawam Housing Authority, said.

Polls were slow Tuesday morning.

AGAWAM – Primary day voters were scarce in Westfield in Agawam and West Springfield.

“I vote in every election,” said Fern Berube of Agawam. It’s something I’ve done since I turned 21.”

She cited the race for Hampden County District Attorney as a point of particular interest. Party nominations for state House of Representatives and state Senate were also at stake in West Springfield and Agawam.

Westfield City Clerk Karen Fanion reported a quiet morning at the polls.

“We haven’t heard much from anybody, it’s pretty quiet,” she said.

Polling Places at Munger Hill School saw about 125 voters before 9 a.m.

There had been about 105 voters at Precinct 4 ‘s polling place at the Roberta G. Doering School on Main Street by 10 a.m.

In West Springfield, about 270 people voted in the two precincts housed at Mittineague Congregational Church on Route 20.

Lynn Devoie of West Springfield said she wants to send representatives to Beacon Hill who listen to the citizens. Election Day is her only way to do that.

Edward C. Peck, a former judge and town councilman in West Springfield, said more voters should declare themselves as members of a party.

“How can you expect to influence government if you don’t take a stand,” Peck said.

Sandlin projects 2-1 margin victory over Democratic opponent.

AGAWAM - By 8:30 p.m. with unofficial results from only one precinct, state Rep. Rosemary Sandlin was predicting a 2-1 victory over her opponent in the Democratic primary, Mark A. Del Negro.

By then, the Town Clerk's Office had counted up 204 votes for Sandlin and 108 for Del Negro in precinct 4. Residents of that precinct vote at Robert G. Doering School, formerly called Agawam Middle School.

"I'm wonderful," Sandlin said, speaking from her campaign headquarters. " It's a wonderful night. It looks like it is going to come out 2-1."

Sandlin beat her Democratic challenger Mark Del Negro, by 2,013 votes to 1,157 in Agawam and Southwick.

State representative Rosemary Sandlin declared victory over Mark Del Negro in the Democratic race for 3rd Hampden District Tueday night.

AGAWAM - State Rep. Rosemary Sandlin, D-Agawam, mowed over her Democratic challenger Mark A. Del Negro in Tuesday’s primary, adding up 2,101 votes to Del Negro’s 1,178.

Before final results were tallied, at 8:45 p.m., Sandlin’s forces declared a victory.

The 64-year-old Sandlin attributed her win to having run a positive campaign.

“We made it an issues campaign, not a derogatory campaign because people do not like to see that,” she said, speaking by telephone from her campaign headquarters.

Sandlin said people respected her record of fighting for jobs by supporting a casino in Western Massachusetts.

Del Negro, a 31-year-old Army veteran with a master’s degree in business administration, came to Sandlin’s headquarters to congratulate her about 9:15 p.m.

Del Negro blamed his defeat on a low voter turnout.

“Not enough independents came out,” Del Negro said.

As a conservative Democrat, Del Negro said he needed support from unaffiliated voters, who he believes are likely to vote for a Republican.

Sandlin said she energized her base by getting out more than 300 volunteers to work on her campaign. That leaves Sandlin to face Southwick Selectman Nicholas V. Boldyga, a Republican, and School Committee Vice Chairman Anthony C. Bonavita, an independent, in the Nov. 2 election.

Sandlin, who seeks her third two-year term, fought off such attacks from Del Negro as having supported the so-called “bathroom bill” allowing for unisex public rest rooms because she took campaign donations from Massachusetts Equality. The 64-year-old incumbent responded that the bill is about equal rights, not rest rooms.

The Del Negro camp also accused Sandlin of accepting $700 in campaign contributions this year from former Agawam Mayor Christopher Johnson, which would have been $200 over the annual limit set under state campaign finance laws.

Sandlin looked into the situation and said the person filling out her campaign finance forms mistakenly credited a $500 check from Johnson and his business partner as all coming from the former mayor.

Welch easily defeated former Agawam Mayor Susan Dawson and opponent Ronald Patenaude.

Photo by Dave Roback / The RepublicanRobert A. Magovern, left, candidate for the Republican Hampden District state Senate nomination, reacts to poll results with his campaign manager Werner Maiwald, of Agawam, at EB's restaurant in Agawam on Tuesday night.

State Rep. James T. Welch, the Democrat who many consider the heir apparent to the Hampden District Senate seat, coasted to victory over his opponents in Tuesday’s primary, with the Republican contest shaping up to be much more of a nail-biter.

Welch beat Democrats Susan R. Dawson, the former mayor of Agawam, and Ronald Patenaude, a labor activist from West Springfield, handily in an election wholly underwhelming in terms of turnout.

Welch, 34, a soft-spoken, earnest representative from West Springfield, beat Dawson and Patenaude as much as 9-1 in some precincts. He succeeded state Sen. Stephen J. Buoniconti, D-West Springfield, as the representative when Buoniconti won the Senate seat and Welch was his legislative aide. When Buoniconti jumped in the Hampden district attorney’s race, Welch made a bid for that seat, too, and will face Republican Robert A. Magovern in the general election.

Welch accepted congratulations at the Elks Club on Morgan Road in West Springfield.

James T. Welch

“It’s true that you can’t run a campaign without a great organization,” he said. “And I have a great network of family, friends and supporters.”

He added that Dawson called him when the early results signaled an easy win for him.

“She was very gracious,” he said, of the one-term mayor who was unseated after her boyfriend’s estranged wife attacked her at a downtown restaurant and an uncomfortable drama ensued in the criminal court system.

But Dawson was upbeat and poised on primary day and praised Welch after the results came in.

“I think the race was very well-run. Everyone played by the rules and stuck to the issues. At the end of the day, they people spoke and they wanted Jim,” Dawson said. “And God gave me the clearest answer he could: Sue Dawson shouldn’t be in politics right now.”

Dawson was accompanied at various polling sites by her boyfriend, real estate developer Mark E. Benoit, and her parents, who were visiting from Pennsylvania.

09.14.2010 | WEST SPRINGFIELD - State Senate candidate Jim Welch gets a hug from his mom, Peggy M. Welch. His wife Kara is on the left. They are at the West Springfield Elks club.

Teachers get no raises in the first year, 1 percent in the second and 2 percent in the third.

AGAWAM – School officials and representatives of the union for the city’s public school teachers have signed a three-year contract that freezes pay the first year and increases it by 1 percent and 2 percent for the first and second years, respectively.

“It was a concentrated effort on both parts. At the end of the school year we were not even close (to an agreement),” School Superintendent Mary A. Czajkowski said Friday.

Mary A. Czajkowski

“I’m glad we have it and I am glad it is signed. There was a lot of work that went into this,” said Robert A. Janik, president of the Agawam Education Association.

The union official said he feels fortunate that the pact is in place in view of a statewide move to slash the state sales tax. Public schools get substantial amounts of state aid each year to balance their budgets.

Teachers agreed to evenly distribute what would be $429,000 in step raises this year among themselves, resulting in a payment of about $1,000 each, Czajkowski said.

The second-year raises should cost the district about $300,000 to fund and about $600,000 to pay for the third year, she said.

The 391-member teachers union ratified the contract Wednesday by a 283-55 vote, she said.

The union also agreed to work with management with regard to elementary teachers’ preparation time, scheduling and advising. Any changes will also have to be voted on by the teachers, according to Janik.

Teachers got a reduction in the amount they must make in co-payments for health care, he said.

The contract will increase each teacher’s pay by $1,063. The current salary scale starts off first-year teachers with bachelor’s degrees at $35,581 a year. Those with doctorates, 13 years of experience and a certificate for doing advanced studies are being paid $68,322 a year, the maximum on the pay their pay scale.

The contract is retroactive to Sept. 1 and will run through Aug. 31, 2013.

Michael J. Armitage, former owner of Berkshire Power in Agawam, has a meager $24,000 in his bank account and is struggling to pay for expert witnesses in his tax fraud trial, according to arguments in U.S. District Court last week.

SPRINGFIELD - A federal judge grudgingly postponed the upcoming tax fraud trial of businessman Michael J. Armitage after his lawyer pleaded for more time to mount his defense.

Armitage, an energy mogul and former owner of Berkshire Power in Agawam, has a meager $24,000 in his bank account and is struggling to pay for expert witnesses, according to arguments in U.S. District Court last week.

However District Judge Michael A. Ponsor told defense lawyer Charles E. Dolan on Thursday that he was skeptical about the defendant’s true financial picture.

“The man doesn’t have money to hire experts, but he’s driving around in a 2010 Mercedes Benz? I don’t get it,” Ponsor said during a pretrial conference.

“I don’t get it either, your honor,” Dolan responded, but still implored the judge to move the Oct. 4 trial date.

Ponsor postponed the trial until Oct. 18. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven H. Breslow told Ponsor it will take the government approximately a month to put its case on for a jury.

Armitage, 55, once a fixture in the downtown club and restaurant scene with business holdings from Greater Springfield to Pittsfield and beyond, is charged with tax evasion, loan fraud and other charges linked to his allegedly squandering federal grant money he received to build an electric bus.

A 59-count indictment states Armitage failed to file income taxes for more than a dozen years, secured bank loans with bogus financial statements, and never built the bus, but managed to pay his bills and buy his wife a car with the grant money.

Armitage has pleaded innocent to all charges.

East Longmeadow police have identified a man and woman they believe are responsible for robberies at United Bank.

EAST LONGMEADOW – An Enfield woman wanted in connection with the Aug. 28 robbery of United Bank here turned herself in to authorities at Palmer District Court Monday morning, police Sgt. Patrick T. Manley said.

An innocent plea was entered for 21-year-old Alysia C. Gilmore of 92 Hartford Ave, Enfield, he said. She is being held in lieu of $10,000 cash bail or $100,000 surety at the Chicopee Women’s Correctional Center.

Police believe the Aug. 28 robbery was linked to an Aug. 7 robbery of the same bank by a man who presented clerks with a note with wording similar to the one Gilmore gave to bank employees, according to Manley.

Investigators preserved the first note and matched fingerprints on it to Joseph Blackwelder, 24, of 25 Weymouth Road, Enfield, he said.

Based on Facebook postings, Manley said police believe the two have a relationship and that Blackwelder got her interested in the Aug. 28 robbery.

Manley said his department is waiting for Palmer District Court to issue a warrant for Blackwelder in the Aug. 7 robbery. In the meantime, Manley said Agawam police got a warrant for Blackwelder from Westfield District Court in connection with the Aug. 18 robbery of Westfield Savings Bank in Agawam. Enfield police have arrested Blackwelder and are holding him as a fugitive from justice, Manley said.

The police sergeant said he hopes to extradite Manley to Massachusetts on the Aug. 7 robbery.

Manley said Patrolman Joseph Barone investigated the first East Longmeadow robbery and Patrolman Scott Skala probed the second crime. They worked with State Police Sgt. Thomas Fitzgerald of the Crime Prevention and Control unit at the Hampden County District Attorney’s Office in Springfield.

The city is eligible for reimbursement of up to 57.7 percent of the cost of a new roof.

AGAWAM - With very little discussion Monday night, City Councilors voted 10-0 to authorize officials to seek reimbursement for some of the $1.3 million sought for roofing and other work at Agawam Junior High School.

City Councilor John F. Walsh said the council’s Finance Committee had earlier voted 4-0 to approve the project even though it did not include the Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning handlers on the school’s roof. The School Committee has also endorsed applying to the state to be part of the program.

The city is eligible for reimbursement of up to 57.7 percent of the cost of a new roof, outside doors and windows under the Green Repair Program of the Massachusetts School Building Authority.

City Councilor George Bitzas, who submitted the resolution with Walsh, said getting accepted into the Green Repair Program will save taxpayers money.

City Council Jill S. Messick said the fact the work funded by the program must meet the state’s stretch building code is “a very good sign.”

“We can save money in the future,” Messick said regarding the code, which mandates savings though more energy efficient construction.

Mayor Richard A. Cohen has said that current roof has a 25-year life expectancy and is anticipated to start having problems in another year. The $1.3 million project replacing the roof as well as the building’s windows and doors is already listed as part of the city’s fiscal 2013 capital budget.

Cohen, a supporter of the measure, has said that the grant application is due in Boston on Wednesday and will be driven to the Massachusetts School Building Authority.

“While it costs money it saves money in the long run for projects that need to be done,” Cohen said.

The mayor created the group to implement a covenant he signed in June with the Army to help on military personnel and their families.

AGAWAM – The Friends of Agawam Veterans, group recently formed by the mayor, is making progress toward getting registered as a private, nonprofit group, according to him.

Acquiring that status will allow it to raise money, Mayor Richard A. Cohen said Monday.

Once the group attains that standing, a board will be formed. The mayor has already asked Iraq veteran Todd M. Crevier to chair the group.

“I’m very pleased with the way it is moving along. Todd is doing a great job promoting it and getting people involved,” Cohen said.

The mayor created the group to implement a covenant he signed in June with the Army to help on military personnel and their families. Cohen has said he envisions the group as doing such things as helping dependents with such things as transportation and lawn care and even mowing lawns.

Cohen said being a veteran is not a requirement to join the group, whose membership is open to anyone.

The organization will work closely with Director of Veterans Services Richard J. Girard, according to the mayor.

Cohen said the group will work closely with a similar organization in West Springfield in getting started.

Two weeks ago, eight or nine people attended a meeting held by the Agawam group, according to Cohen.

Judge Daniel A. Ford sentenced Letkowski to 25 to 30 years in state prison.

Republican file photo04.20.2006 | Mikolaj K. Letkowski is guarded by Clerk Officer Dennis Lawson during his arraignment in Springfield District Courtroom 1 in April, 2006.

SPRINGFIELD - A jury in Hampden Superior Court jury this week rejected a defense argument that a 36-year-old city man with bipolar disorder should not be held criminally responsible for the brutal kidnapping and rape of a Western New England College student in 2006.

Mikolaj K. Letkowski must now spend 25 to 30 years in state prison, a sentence imposed on Wednesday by Judge Daniel A. Ford.

Defense lawyer Vincent A. Bongiorni had argued that Letkowski was not criminally responsible for the acts of April 17, 2006, because he has bipolar disorder.

Letkowski was convicted of charges of kidnapping, armed robbery, aggravated rape, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and intimidating a witness.

Letkowski was found guilty of approaching the young woman student in a college parking lot while he was wearing a mask, forcing her into her car and driving her to Agawam. According to the case presented by assistant district attorney Donna S. Donato, Letkowski then robbed the woman, sexually assaulted her and then returned with her to the college and fled.

Letkowski had been free pending trial after posting $100,000 cash bail.

The suspects told police they needed the money for college.

SUFFIELD – Two suspects, who confessed to police last month to breaking into homes in Agawam and just over the state line in East Granby because they “needed money for college,” were arrested again Tuesday and charged with an earlier break-in here.

Ryan Piquette, 18, of 5 Birge Ave., Windsor Locks, and a 17-year-old juvenile from Manchester, were charged with burglary third degree and larceny fourth degree.

Suffield police said they arrested the pair in connection with a daytime residential burglary that occurred on June 30. Over $1,500 worth of electronics, jewelry, cash and other items were taken from the home.

According to a release issued by Suffield police, the same two suspects were caught breaking into a home in East Granby on Aug. 10 and were arrested by Connecticut State Police.

The suspects confessed to that burglary as well as burglaries in Suffield, Agawam and East Granby. “They told investigators that they decided to commit these crimes because they ‘needed money for college,’” according to the release.

State police recovered a large quantity of stolen property which was used as evidence by Agawam and Suffield police to connect them with burglaries in their respective communities.

Agawam police Lt. Richard A. Light said the suspects will summoned into court to answer to Agawam break-in which occurred on Sunnyslope Avenue.

Use of the city's Senior Center has grown tremendously since it got a new and bigger building.

Mark M. Murray / The Republican

AGAWAM – Officials have broken ground on the final piece of work in the construction of the new Senior Center, an approximately $420,000 parking project.

Ludlow Paving will create a new 30-space parking lot in what is now the lawn between the Senior Center and Agawam Housing headquarters to its rear. The new lot, which will be on housing authority land, will provide overflow parking for both the Senior Center and the housing authority. There are currently 104 parking spaces at the Senior Center.

The funds will come from the approximately $6 million bond floated to build the Senior Center, which opened about two years ago on Main Street, according to Mayor Richard A. Cohen.

At that time, the housing authority moved its offices into the former Senior Center building at 66 Meadowbrook Road, which is located behind the new Senior Center.

Town Clerk Richard E. Theroux, who chaired the building committee for the new Senior Center, said his group worked through two mayors and two Agawam Housing Authority administrators to push the parking project through.

The new parking area will provide about 30 more spaces for the Senior Center, where he said participation in its projects by elders has grown since the new 25,000-square-foot building has opened. The center now gets 60 new seniors a month joining its programs as opposed to the 20 more a month at the old building.

Plans also call for resurfacing of the parking area to the rear of the housing authority building as well as installation of a lighting system for all the parking lots serving the Senior Center and housing authority.

Officials hope the project will be completed by mid-October.

“I’m very, very happy. It is good for the town and the housing authority,” Scott L. Macey, chairman of the Agawam Housing Authority, said.

Interest in science and math needs to start young, Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray said.

Photo by Lori Stabile / The RepublicanMembers of the Agawam High School Rosie Robotics team kneel behind their robot, Rosie 9, during the seventh annual STEM summit Tuesday at Sturbridge Host Hotel in Sturbridge. From left are Coramarie H. O’Connor, Anthony J. Hollywood, Nathaniel W. Dintzner, Charles D. Calabrese, Gregory L. Frasco and Ian M. White.

STURBRIDGE – Perhaps the best example of how to get students excited about science, technology and math was Agawam High School’s Rosie Robotics team, who, with their soccer ball-shooting robot Rosie 9, attended Tuesday’s seventh annual STEM summit.

Held at the Sturbridge Host Hotel, the event was attended by hundreds of educators, business leaders and community officials who heard Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Murray outline how $9 million in funding will help support STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) initiatives. He also said 80 percent of jobs created in the next decade will require math and science skills.

Interest in science and math needs to start young, in preschool, Murray said, adding that emphasis also will be given to women and special student populations to excite them about these subjects.

Among the initiatives: doubling the number of science, technology, engineering and math-related bachelor’s degrees earned by students from Massachusetts high schools by 2016, and increasing the number of classes in those subjects for students.

“I hear all the time from students and their teachers as well as from our top business leaders that a sharp focus on STEM education is the key to our current and future success,” Murray said.

University of Massachusetts President Jack M. Wilson expressed a similar sentiment. He said this is a way to ensure the country’s economic security, and emphasized that more students need to enter these fields.

Wilson singled out Urban League of Springfield President and Chief Executive Officer Henry M. Thomas III in his remarks as “a titanic supporter of STEM issues.”

Thomas, who is also a UMass trustee, said the Urban League has two-STEM initiatives happening, a three-year $165,000 grant from the National Urban League to introduce 50 minority youth to careers in science, technology, engineering and math, as part of a partnership with UMass. They also have a “Comcast Digital Connectors” program to show students that the Internet can be used for more than social networking, Thomas said.

The Robotics team from Agawam wore bright orange T-shirts and demonstrated how their square robot moves and shoots a soccer ball. The team won the entrepreneurship award in the 2010 First Robotics Competition at Worcester Polytechnic Institute for Rosie 9.

Project engineers Gregory L. Frasco, a sophomore, and Nathaniel W. Dintzner, a home-schooled junior, said they are considering studying engineering in college. Frasco, software, and Dintzner, robotics.

Agawam High technology education teacher Jack F. Barry said the students love creating the robots for competitions.

“This is electrical engineering, mechanical engineering . . . It’s math, science and all that stuff put to work. The kids get so excited about it. They learn a lot of stuff,” Barry said.

Mark Danalis pleaded guilty to running a marijuana growing operation down the street from Six Flags New England.

SPRINGFIELD – A huge marijuana bust in Agawam has yielded a $650,000 payoff for area law enforcement agencies.

In pleading guilty to running a sophisticated marijuana growing operation down the street from the Six Flags New England amusement park last year, Mark J. Danalis, of Agawam, agreed to surrender cash and assets from the business, including a 2006 Corvette and a 20-foot Stingray boat.

The deal, authorized by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, capped a two-year investigation that began with the Northwestern District Attorney’s office and the Northampton Police Department and eventually involved eight other law enforcement agencies across the region.

U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz came to Springfield this week to praise the teamwork of the participating agencies and announce the distribution of the funds.

“Forfeiture is a very powerful enforcement tool used against a wide spectrum of crimes, including drug trafficking,” said Ortiz on Wednesday, adding she was “delighted” to award the funds to the 10 agencies responsible for the seizure.

In April, 2008, state police seized 103 marijuana plants and two generators during a raid on the marijuana growing operation at 1779 Main St. Danalis, an East Longmeadow resident at the time, was arrested at the site.

Police also seized a 2006 Corvette, a 2004 Ford Explorer, a 2002 Indian Chief motorcycle, a Yamaha 660 Quad, a 20-foot Stingray boat, and two Arctic Cat snowmobiles from Danalis as proceeds of the sale of marijuana.

In January, Danalis was given three years’ probation after pleading guilty to possession with intent to distribute marijuana, and ordered to forfeit cash and assets totaling $650,000.

The Northwestern District Attorney’s office received the largest amoung, $207,677, and the remainder was divided among other federal, regional and municipal law enforcement agencies, including police departments in Northampton, Easthampton, West Springfield, Springfield, Chicopee and Holyoke.

Renee L. Steese, assistant district attorney for Northwest district attorney’s office, said the conviction and forfeiture were the result of a long and expensive investigation. “There were lengthy surveillance’s and essentially used leather-on-the-pavement old fashion police work,” Steese said.

The office has not received the money yet, and not decided how to use it. Generally, money seized in drug raids is used to finance future investigations, Steese said.

Northampton Detective Lt. Kenneth J. Watson said his department often uses seized drug proceeds to pay for new equipment, training and overtime for surveillance work. “This is a significant amount for us. It should (last) for a while,” he said.

With or without the financial bonus, Watson said, solving the case was its own reward.

“We all worked well together, and we brought someone to justice,” he said.

Robert F. MacDonald, executive director of the Work Opportunity Center Inc. in Agawam, will moderate both debates.

File photos / The RepublicanHampden district attorney candidates Stephen Buoniconti, left, and Mark Mastroianni, are seen at recent editorial board meetings at The Republican.

The West of the River Chamber of Commerce will sponsor the Lincoln-Douglas style debates. The one set for Tuesday from 6 to 9 p.m. will take place at West Springfield Middle School. It will feature Republican Gregory C. Neffinger and Democrat Michael J. Finn, candidates for the 6th Hampden District state representative seat. Finn heads the West Springfield Town Council and Neffinger is an architect.

That evening will also see district attorney candidates state Rep. Stephen J. Buoniconti, D-West Springfield, and Mark G. Mastroianni, of Westfield, an independent, face off against each other. Both are former assistant district attorneys. There is no Republican candidate for that office.

The debate Thursday will feature candidates for the 3rd Hampden District state representative post and the Hampden state senate slot. State Rep. Rosemary Sandlin, D-Agawam, will take on Southwick Selectman Nicholas V. Boldyga, a Republican, and Agawam School Committee Vice Chairman Anthony C. Bonavita, who is running as an independent.

Candidates for the Hampden state senate seat state - Rep. James T. Welch, D-West Springfield, and Agawam City Councilor Robert A. Magovern, a Republican - will also take part.

That debate will run from 6 to 9 p.m. and take place at Roberta G. Doering School, the former Agawam Middle School.

Robert F. MacDonald, executive director of the Work Opportunity Center Inc. in Agawam, will moderate both debates.

No one was injured in a fire at Six Flags New England Saturday night.

AGAWAM – Fire broke out on the upper external facade of the Midnight Mansion haunted house attraction at Six Flags new England at about 8 p.m. Saturday.

No one was injured, all guests were escorted from the building and the rest of the park continued to operate normally, said Melissa M. Pinkerton, the park’s communications manager.

Firefighters for the Agawam Fire Department remained on the scene until after 9 p.m.

Pinkerton didn’t yet know the cause of the fire Saturday night.

Midnight Mansion is part of the park’s Halloween Fright Fest.

Students at the school, which includes kindergarten through fourth-grade, have spent time putting together themed projects, comparing life today to what it was like 50 years ago.

The Republican / Mark M. MurrayStudents from Robinson Park Elementary School are celebrating the school's 50th anniversary. Holding the cake are Nick Quiones and Alissa Heim. Behind, from left, are Eduardo Lupsov, Jarrett Merriam, Paul Slinsky, Ethan Lavoie, Shawn Newsome, Cortney McDonnell, Emily Smidt and Greta Dirzyte.

AGAWAM - Robinson Park Elementary School is marking its 50th anniversary this fall with special events in honor of reaching the half-century mark.

The events include both a public open house and an in-school celebration. The school’s Parent-Teacher Organization is also selling cookbooks to help pay for the anniversary celebrations.

A special anniversary celebration open house is planned for Oct. 21 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the school, 65 Begley St.

“We’ll have displays out, and it will be an opportunity for former students and teachers, current students and teachers to see what it’s become over the past half a century,” said Carolyn J. Boyce, a Robinson Park kindergarten teacher and chairperson of the school’s 50th anniversary committee. “We’ll have refreshments and cake, and the school will be decorated.”

Students at the school, which includes kindergarten through fourth-grade, have spent time putting together themed projects, comparing life today to what it was like 50 years ago.

“Each grade had a certain topic,” Boyce said. “For example, second-graders did foods back then and foods now. Friends and family can come and tour the school and enjoy the displays.”

The Republican / Mark M. MurrayKathy St. Pierre and Brandi Dean, members of the Robinson Park Elementary School Parent-Teacher Organization, show off a copy of the cookbook which the group is selling to fund the school's 50th anniversary celebration.

The projects, along with a showcase of school artifacts, will be on display at the open house.

The school, which consisted of just one wing when it was built, now has three wings.

The Thelma E. Meadon Library Media Center was added in 1991, and the kindergarten classrooms were added in 1998. Two modular classrooms were opened in 2006.

On Oct. 22, students and staff will participate in an in-school ceremony. It will include dignitaries and speakers, including retired first-grade teacher Patty Aspen and a current student whose grandmother attended the school when it first opened.

The students will put on a performance of Disney songs, called “Disney through the Decades.” The Parent-Teacher Organization is purchasing special 50th anniversary T-shirts for students and faculty as well.

In order to fund the celebrations, the Robinson Park PTO will sell cookbooks containing favorite recipes submitted by the families of students and staff members. The cookbook contains about 200 recipes, and is divided into sections such as appetizers, desserts and side dishes.

At a price of $10, the cookbook will be available at the open house or by contacting vice president Michelle Manning at (413) 786-8637 or by e-mail to manning25@verizon.net.

“It’s a really good-looking cookbook,” Boyce said. “There’s a little bit of the school’s history in the cookbook, and a bit about current staff.”

Students will also mark the 50th anniversary by singing “Happy Birthday” to Robinson Park and planting a commemorative tree on Oct. 18, just as students planted a tree at the school for its 25th anniversary.