Sports Briefs: Paul Appleby excels at Amherst Golf Club Senior Club Championship

My Turn: After 250 years, here’s one thing that still makes Americans happy

For Bay Staters, “the pursuit of happiness,” as the Declaration of Independence put it, has often taken place in nature. In 1836, Boston-native Ralph Waldo Emerson described the benefits of time spent outdoors on the human soul in his essay, “Nature.” A few years later, Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden” inspired more Americans to connect with […]

Guest columnist Brian Pearson: Two rivers, one overlooked problem

The recent attention paid to sewage spills in the Merrimack and Connecticut Rivers is welcome, and overdue. When a pipe breaks and millions of gallons of untreated wastewater pour into a river overnight, it makes headlines, and it should. Beaches close, fisheries shut down, and elected officials take notice. Friends of Lake Warner and the […]

No more lone responders: Amherst adds four firefighters, plans to increase minimum staffing levels year-round

AMHERST — An Amherst firefighter driving an engine to a fire or other emergency ensures a prompt response, but once on scene, a single responder has to wait until other members of the career, on-call or student force arrive. “You can’t effectively do anything at a fire with a single person,” said Sarah Forsaith, president of the Amherst Firefighters Local 1764. But the occasional challenge of having a solitary firefighter on board an engine should soon go away. The town is adding four firefighters and eventually increasing the minimum staffing to 10 full-time firefighter-paramedics year-round, upping this from the current seven […]

Rejected Hadley battery project returns amid lawsuit, resident concerns

HADLEY — A stand-alone battery storage project on Breckenridge Road that planners rejected 18 months ago — and that is now the subject of a pending lawsuit — is back before the Planning Board, where residents this week raised concerns about dangers to people and wildlife, as well as expected noise. Those who live near […]

A legacy of service: Hadley fire chief calls it a career

HADLEY — On the busiest days, around 100,000 vehicles pass through or stop in Hadley, significantly increasing the size of the town that has about 5,300 year-round residents. Yet until 2005, when Michael Spanknebel became Hadley’s first full-time firefighter, the Hadley Fire Department depended exclusively on on-call firefighting staff, those who could respond to emergencies from their workplaces or homes. In the 21 years since, and his 13 years as fire chief, the department has become more professional. By the end of this summer, it will return to having at least two full-time firefighters on each shift, with one shift having […]