Brief thoughts on some events making news around Franklin County and the North Quabbin area:
The deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl has largely outstripped heroin as the leading cause of opioid-related deaths in Massachusetts.
Experts say the powerful drug, considered to be up to 50 times as potent as regular heroin, has been working its way from factories legal in China to U.S. black markets.
The drug was present in 74 percent of the 1,005 opioid-related overdose deaths so far in 2016.
The only good news we can see in this report is that perhaps it’s scary enough to keep more people away from opioid abuse, which can hijack the human brain and not let go.
What’s being billed as a ‘new’ Indian restaurant plans to open in place of the Clay Oven, which the town closed earlier this fall for health code violations.
The Board of Health approved the Indian By Nature eatery on Main Street in Greenfield to be run by two of the three partners who ran the former Clay Oven. Theyhave launched the new venture without a former partner who was largely in charge before.
The new partnership has worked over the past weeks to comply with the town’s orders to train the staff in proper safe food service practices and have renovated the eatery.
Health Inspector Brianna Eichstaedt said the restaurant has come a long way in fixing the major health safety concerns that saw it closed in September after months of failed inspections.
“They’re showing a lot of effort, and everyone involved should be excited,” she said last week.
The restaurant could be open before the end of the month, the new managers said. At that point, the establishment will be inspected on a monthly basis for at least two months. If those go well, the restaurant will be placed on normal biannual inspection, Eichstaedt said.
The town was right to close the old Clay Oven, but also has shown it can work with small merchants who want to be part of a healthy downtown retail scene.
A round for organizers of the 22nd annual Franklin County Cider Days, an event celebrating all sweet and hard ciders.
The festival wrapped up the region’s fall festival season with orchard talks and tours, cider workshops, and cider-tasting salons around the county.
Franklin County Chamber of Commerce Marketing Manager Lisa Davol estimated that 4,000 people would attend the festival’s events.
Over past two decades, the appreciation of cider, hard cider in particular, has grown nationally, and it’s a tribute to our apple growers and cider makers that they have been ahead of the curve.
We are always most impressed with people who do good works and decline to take credit for the deed.
So we want to thank the anonymous donor who has given $1 million for scholarships for Franklin County students.
According to the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts, the donor gave $3 million in all, one of the largest single gifts ever made by a living donor.
In 2015, $149,600 in scholarships was awarded to Franklin County students, and an additional $42,000 is expected to be awarded this year thanks to the donation. Tremblay expects at least $191,600 in scholarships to be awarded annually in the years going forward.