Brief thoughts on some of the events taking place around Franklin County and the North Quabbin area:
Kudos to members of the western Mass. legislative delegation for continuing to pursue a better solution when it comes to the Berkshire Gas Co.’s moratorium on new hook-ups. Senate President Stanley Rosenberg, state Reps. Stephen Kulik and Paul Mark want public hearings in western Massachusetts on the next biennial report submitted by the gas company to the state Department of Public Utilities.
“The Berkshire Gas Company’s moratorium on new customers in its eastern division has a significant impact on many residents in Franklin and Hampshire Counties,” the three lawmakers said in a letter to the DPU. Having the hearing here rather than Boston would ensure that the region’s interests would be heard.
These lawmakers are also in contact with Berkshire Gas directly, telling the DPU, “We are working with the company to ensure that all viable solutions are being examined, and a key component of that is the biennial Forecast and Supply Plan.” Since this moratorium has an impact on economic development, we’re glad to see that it hasn’t been dropped.
The state Senate has approved a bill that looks to prevent animal cruelty. One of the bills aims to prevent the death of animals left inside a hot car. It would allow police, fire, and animal control to rescue animals inside a car when conditions threaten their health. It also provides legal immunity to anyone who decides to rescue an animal in a good faith effort to save a distressed animal’s life.
While we certainly don’t want to see any dog or cat die in a car, this legislation also opens the door to people, well-intentioned though they may be, unnecessarily breaking into a vehicle and probably leaving the owner footing the bill for repairs. We hope House lawmakers will look carefully at all aspects of this legislation to find the right balance before voting.
We would like to think that there are plenty of residents, parents and nonparents willing to step forward to fill a new vacancy on the Greenfield School Committee. Francia Wisnewski, who has been on the board for about four years and is now the vice chairwoman, is resigning because she and her family are moving to Montague. While she will be missed, there are undoubtedly many people who share her commitment to education that can become a valuable asset to the schools and community by seeking the seat.
Crowdfunding has become the de rigueur approach to fundraising these days. One of the latest attempts involves the East Main Street Pocket Park in Orange, where the town and the Massachusetts Development Finance Agency have joined forces to raise money toward beautifying a tiny downtown park. The deadline for the town to raise at least $9,500, money that then the state will match, is Aug. 7. We suspect other towns will be watching to see what happens here and whether they should pursue crowdsourcing as a way to raise money.