Editor’s note: As part of the Greenfield Recorder’s end-of-the-year features, we are publishing in two parts our choices for the top 10 newsmakers of 2022. They are listed in no particular order. Part 1 was published on Monday.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February inspired an outpouring of support for the war-torn country, even from as far away as Franklin County.
This support was manifested in a variety of ways. For Leverett residents Annette and Dean Cycon, it meant a two-week humanitarian trip to Poland to volunteer with World Central Kitchen, a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization that provides meals to those affected by tragedy. They were accompanied by Nadya Tkachenko, a holistic health provider and Montague mother of four. The couple also set up a GoFundMe page (bit.ly/3IfHHQm) to raise money for Ukraine refugees.
Residents got creative to develop their own fundraisers, many of which benefited World Central Kitchen. These took the form of cookie, beer, and art sales; benefit concerts; film screenings; a bowling tournament; and even egg decorating at Easter.
For some, the war hit even closer to home. Millers Falls resident David Korpiewski traveled to Poland to bring his 10-year-old Kyiv daughter, Mary, home safely.
According to Korpiewski, Mary had been staying with her grandparents in Ukraine’s city of Dnipro as her mother, Iryna Bobykh, was in Vienna, Austria for a conference. When Russia followed through and the conflict escalated into active war, Mary was forced to wait with her grandparents near a Russian-targeted nuclear power plant. Meanwhile, Korpiewski, an associate software specialist at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, immediately engaged in a hard-fought effort to get to Poland, where Bobykh would eventually take Mary via train.
“It’s such a relief,” Korpiewski said just one day after their plane touched down in Boston.
— Shelby Brock
Vincent Gillespie
Vincent J. Gillespie, 61, of Athol, was found guilty in U.S. District Court on Friday of felony and misdemeanor charges related to his involvement in the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol.
A trial determined that Gillespie was guilty of assaulting, resisting or impeding officers; civil disorder; engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds; and an act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings. Judge Beryl Howell has scheduled sentencing for March 17.
Gillespie, a former resident of Greenfield and Easthampton, was arrested in Athol in February 2022. According to the court, the evidence showed that from approximately 4:11 p.m. to 4:26 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021, Gillespie was among rioters engaging in pushing, shoving, yelling and fighting with law enforcement officers in the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol.
“He struggled his way through the crowd, eventually maneuvering through the rioters to the line of police officers defending the Lower West Terrace’s exterior door,” the court reported Friday. “At one point, he gained control of a police shield and used it to ram the police. He then used two hands to grab a Metropolitan Police Department sergeant by the arm, yanking him toward the mob. He then screamed ‘traitor’ and ‘treason’ at the police.”
Supporters of then-President Donald Trump had convened on Jan. 6 for the “Save America” rally, where Trump and other speakers made claims of voter fraud and irregularities in the 2020 presidential election. Trump told supporters to march to the Capitol building, saying they would “never take back our country with weakness.”
— Domenic Poli
Long before Kirsten Levitt was named the Greenfield Recorder’s 40th Citizen of the Year, she was garnering accolades and making headlines for, in the words of Communities That Care Coalition Co-Coordinator Rachel Stoler, cultivating “not only a pay-what-you-can volunteer-staffed gourmet cafe, but also an incredibly vibrant community-building organization that creates a space where all are welcome to break bread together.”
In February, Levitt, executive director and chef at the Stone Soup Cafe, was honored with the 2021 Mike Fritz Community Builder Award, named after substance abuse prevention advocate Mike Fritz. Stoler said the award is annually bestowed “to a community member who embodies the values of the Communities That Care Coalition,” an organization aimed at promoting the health and well-being of young people in Franklin County and the North Quabbin region.
Levitt also has been instrumental in launching the Stone Soup Culinary Institute, a 12-week program in which students receive training and practice in the fundamentals of cooking, along with safe handling and serving of food and beverages. Stone Soup Cafe landed a $300,000 from the Massachusetts’ Community Empowerment and Reinvestment Grant Program in April, enabling Levitt to hire two chef instructors and Chef Warren Leigh, chair of the culinary arts program at Holyoke Community College, as a consultant. The grant also allowed the training program to be free for the first cohort of six to eight students.
“We’ve been dreaming about it for all this time,” Levitt said, recalling early conversations with Stone Soup Cafe’s board of directors. In June, the cafe celebrated its 10th anniversary of serving community meals from Greenfield’s All Souls Church.
Levitt also caught the attention of U.S. Rep. Jim McGovern, who invited her, along with state Sen. Jo Comerford and Christopher “Monte” Belmonte of WRSI 93.9 The River, to the White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health in September. The first — and only other — White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health was hosted in 1969.
—Shelby Brock
Among the year’s Franklin County Superior Court cases involving serious motor vehicle collisions were the case of 53-year-old Northampton resident Peter Toomey, who was sentenced to five years in prison in November for the 2021 hit-and-run death of Shelburne Falls resident Rhonda Thompson; and the case of Ryan T. O’Farrell, 32, of Westerly, Rhode Island, who is accused of injuring seven motorcyclists who had to be hospitalized while driving under the influence of drugs on Route 10 in Northfield in May.
Toomey pleaded guilty to single counts of leaving the scene of personal injury causing death, negligent motor vehicle homicide and misleading a police officer. He was also sentenced to five years of probation for the homicide and misleading police charges — to be served simultaneously once he is released from prison — and he will not be able to obtain a driver’s license for 15 years due to the homicide charge.
Thompson, 45, was walking with a friend on the side of Route 2 in Shelburne at around 6:30 a.m. on June 8, 2021 when she was struck and killed by a pickup truck Toomey was driving.
O’Farrell is being held on $100,000 bail. His attorney, Jeanne Early, has entered on his behalf not guilty pleas on 18 charges: one count of operating under the influence of drugs, five counts of operating under the influence of drugs causing serious bodily injury, two counts of child endangerment while operating under the influence, three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, five counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury, one count of negligent operation of a motor vehicle, and one count of unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.
According to authorities, O’Farrell was driving south on Route 10 in Northfield in an SUV that was pulling a trailer carrying a motorcycle at roughly 1 p.m. on May 29 when he crossed the center line and smashed into five motorcycles that were heading north in the oncoming lane, causing serious injuries. One woman had her leg amputated, and one man needed his right arm fused and later amputated.
— Shelby Brock
A series of notable retirements came from numerous fields of employment this year, with many ending their careers after more than four decades.
It’s hard to top the longevity of Shelburne resident Phil Drumheller’s career, though. At 84 years old, Phil D, as he was known to area listeners, signed off the airwaves in April, capping off a seven-decade broadcasting career that began at Springfield Trade High School. Drumheller hosted a morning show on WIZZ radio, ownership of which was transferred to Saga Communications.
“I think it’s time,” Drumheller said in April. “It’s been a worthwhile, happy career.”
Other retirements included: Warwick resident A. George Day Jr., a Franklin County Technical School Committee member for 35 years; Shutesbury Fire Chief Walter Tibbetts, a third-generation firefighter and 40-year veteran of the department; Mike Tucker, CEO of Greenfield Cooperative Bank who started as a teller in Springfield just over 40 years ago; Sharyn Paciorek, who was Deerfield Elementary School’s crossing guard for 40 years; Dan Fleuriel, who was chief operator of the Shelburne Falls Wastewater Treatment Facility for 38 years; Turners Falls Water Department Superintendent Michael Brown, who served within the department for 36 years total; veteran audiologists Barbara and Norman Morris of Pioneer Hearing Services, who passed their Valley Medical Group office space to Brattleboro Hearing Center after four decades in the field; and LifePath Executive Director Barbara Bodzin, who spent nearly four decades working in the field of community-based long-term care. Irene Woods also announced her retirement from her position as executive director of the Children’s Advocacy Center of Franklin County and North Quabbin Inc. in October, although the passing of the torch to Jeffrey Trant won’t happen until the end of January.
— Shelby Brock