Search Results

Keyword search: belchertown ma

By MELISSA KAREN SANCES

“And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.” — Friedrich NietzscheI have never liked ghost stories. But when I heard about Half-Hanged Mary of Hadley, I was spellbound. Not that long ago, right around here, a woman, thought...

By CAROLYN BROWN

Decades ago, it was common for children with intellectual and developmental disabilities to be kept in inhumane conditions inside horrific institutions. With the release of his new book, “Becoming Darlene: The Story of Belchertown Patient #4952,”...

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — A Belchertown restaurant is facing charges for allegedly serving 22 shots of liquor to three underage employees over a six-hour period in early August, one of whom got into a car crash while driving under the influence in Ludlow a short...

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — Police Chief Kevin Pacunas is appealing an Eastern Hampshire District Court judge’s ruling that reversed his decision to deny a resident’s application for a gun license.In his appeal to Hampshire Superior Court, filed Sept. 23, Pacunas...

By JACOB NELSON

When Heather McCann founded her Belchertown farm, Rustic Outlook, in 2020, she picked a niche that few local farmers have chosen. She decided to make beans her thing.Dry beans, specifically. They’re a pantry staple that lasts for years and a delicious...

Turning trash containers into art BELCHERTOWN — If making visual art (rather than just appreciating it at gallery shows) is your thing, this call for artists may be for you. Artists are invited to submit proposals for designs to decorate three...

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — Brewed with tenacity, poured with purpose.The two slogans of Arcpoint Brewing Company, Belchertown’s first brewery, located at 30 Front St., stand out in bright red letters against the blue grey walls painted the same color as the skins...

By EMILEE KLEIN

The only structure that appeared still intact from the first superintendent’s home at the Belchertown State School was a century-old stone wall outlining a small grassy plot at 47 State St.At least that’s what residents believed until three years ago,...

“Into the Valley of Death rode the six hundred.” So wrote Alfred Lord Tennyson in commemorating the heroic yet suicidal mission undertaken by the British Light Brigade in the 1854 Battle of Balaclava. Fast forward to the Pioneer Valley’s contemporary...

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — Saying that Police Chief Kevin Pacunas’ decision to deny a firearms license to a resident earlier this year was “overly broad, vague and therefore arbitrary and capricious,” a judge last month ordered the town to grant the license.In...

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — Before police officers began their patrols on July 19, each officer clipped on one of the 23 fully charged body cameras sitting on a docking station, officially launching the department’s body-worn camera program that aims to improve...

By SCOTT MERZBACH

AMHERST — A recent visit to Brookfield Farm gave Bronx, New York teens Emily Robinson and Royale Cash Panchoo an opportunity to see baby pigs, pick blueberries and make flower bouquets, one of their several excursions around town and the region while...

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — A new town website is designed to offer improved usability for site visitors and municipal employees, easier navigation and timely notifications for news and events.The revamped website presents the most-used resources for residents on...

Staff Report

BELCHERTOWN — Four people arrested during the breakup of a pro-Palestinian encampment on the University of Massachusetts campus in May agreed to dispositions Monday in Eastern Hampshire District Court in which they will enter a four-month diversion...

By EMILEE KLEIN

Morey Phippen and Brian Adams’ yard in Florence looks nothing like the traditional blanket of green grass associated with suburban lawns.Instead, bumblebees and butterflies bob and weave around her destined for the nearby foxglove, pink primrose, red...

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — Residents shot down the proposed $122.6 million middle school building at Monday’s special election, bringing the project to an end and denying a $47.9 million grant from Massachusetts School Building Authority to offset the cost.The...

Regarding your insulting editorial cartoon on Monday, May 13, how would your readers respond if that trashcan had Democratic Party candidate on it instead of third party? Interesting how those claiming to value democracy have no clue what it is. The...

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — Without any money to spend on the latest 1990s entertainment, teenage Tracy Taylor amused her young son by rolling down grassy hills at the Quabbin Reservoir, giggling with big smiles once the two reunited at the bottom.“I think we just...

By EMILEE KLEIN

BELCHERTOWN — While driving to Town Meeting earlier this month, Lynn Sikes noticed signs punctuating the lawns of homes, urging residents to vote “yes” or “no” on a Proposition 2½ debt exclusion override to fund a new $122.6 million Jabish Brook...

By EMILEE KLEIN

Among UMass Cold Springs Orchard’s 35 acres of apple trees hang little orange tents at the top of the trees that, despite the blazing color, are discretely managing pesky moths.These prism-shaped moth traps release pheromones to attract male moths...

By EMILEE KELIN

BELCHERTOWN — The president of the Granby Bow and Gun Club insists that stray bullets that hit two homes and a shed in the Turkey Hill area of town did not originate from the club’s long range.Club President Ryan Downing read a statement at the...