Around Town: Special Olympics events begin tonight

By Scott Merzbach
Staff Writer

Published on August 08, 2008

The annual Special Olympics August Tournament takes place this weekend, with events being held in Amherst, Easthampton and Belchertown and a torch relay occurring tonight.

The tournament begins with the "Flame of Hope" relay that goes from the Amherst police station on Main Street to the Mullins Center on the University of Massachusetts campus.

Amherst police Lt. Bob O'Connor and UMass officer Bob Waskiewicz will help lead the numerous law-enforcement participants in the 3-mile relay, which is scheduled to start at 7:50 p.m. and end at 8:30 p.m.

Competitions will be held the next day, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., with golf at Cherry Hill Golf Course on Montague Road, bocce and softball at Nonotuck Park in Easthampton, cycling at Swift River Elementary School in Belchertown and fishing at the Quabbin gate 8 off Route 202 in Belchertown.

Local participants include three Amherst women and one Hadley woman. Tiffany Chappel, of Amherst, and Allison Sroka, of Hadley, will both be playing bocce, while Amanda Paul and April Young, both of Amherst, will be playing softball.

GIS award

The town of Amherst formally received its special achievement in geographic information system technology this week.

The award, one of 170 given out at the 28th annual ESRI International User Conference, held in San Diego, Calif., Wednesday, means that the town has made contributions to the global society and set new precedents throughout the GIS community.

According to ESRI, Amherst's GIS system is described as "a digital mapping repository integrated with multiple information systems used in the daily operation of local business."

Benefit concert

The western Massachusetts chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War is scheduling a benefit concert to raise money to send representatives to both the upcoming Democratic and Republican conventions.

The concert, which will also increase awareness of the organization and its objectives, will be held Aug. 15 on the Town Common.

Two veterans who are part of the IVAW are expected to head to both Denver and Minneapolis for the conventions.

Special election reminder

Candidates interested in running for a vacant seat on the Select Board at the Nov. 4 election have until Sept. 16 to file nomination papers.

The papers must contain the signatures of at least 50 registered voters and be submitted to the Board of Registrars.

The open seat is available because of the Aug. 31 resignation of board member Anne Awad. The election had originally been scheduled to be held Sept. 16, but was pushed back because of concerns the majority of Select Board in complying with a 1970s-era court case concerned with the possibility of disenfranchising student voters.

Prior to the original election being postponed, the only candidates were Aaron Hayden and David Keenan.

Meetings

MONDAY: Select Board, 6:30 p.m., Town Room, Town Hall.

TUESDAY: Agricultural Commission, 7 p.m., First Floor Meeting Room, Town Hall; LSSE Commission, 7:30 p.m., LSSE conference room, Bangs Center.