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Legislative Breakfast

Nov. 4: Massachusetts Treasurer Tim Cahill will be the keynote speaker at the West Springfield Chamber of Commerce Legislative Breakfast from 7:15 to 9 a.m. at Springfield Country Club, 1375 Elm St., West Springfield. State Sen. Stephen Buoniconti and state Rep. James Welch will also make brief remarks. The cost is $20 for members and $25 for nonmembers. For more information or to make reservations, visit www.myonlinechamber.com.

City of Bright Nights Ball

Nov. 19: The Spirit of Springfield’s 10th annual gala, the City of Bright Nights Ball, will be conducted at the MassMutual Center, sponsored by the MassMutual Financial Group. The evening of fine dining and dancing will also include live and silent auctions. The Boston Culinary Group, bringing in chefs from throughout New England, will serve a gourmet dinner featuring plank salmon and beef tenderloin. Tickets are $400 per couple with tables of 10 available for $2,000. For tickets or more information, call the Spirit of Springfield office at (413) 733-3800.

WNEC Tax Institute

Nov. 18: Updates on federal and state tax laws, new manufacturer deductions, section 1031 ‘like kind’ exchanges and identity theft are topics of the 44th annual Western New England College Tax Institute, planned from 8:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. in Sleith Hall on the college’s main campus, 1215 Wilbraham Road,
Springfield. To register or for more information, call (413) 782-1473 or visit
www.wnec.edu/tax.

Economic Impact Awards Nov. 22: The Mass. Alliance for Economic
Development will host its second annual Team Massachusetts Economic Impact Awards at the Sheraton Boston Hotel. Gloria Larson, Chair, Massachusetts Convention Center Authority, will be the Master of Ceremonies, with Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney as the keynote speaker. Honorees include Kleer Lumber, Interprint and Suddekor from Western Mass. Registration begins at 11 a.m., followed by the program and lunch at noon. For reservations and more information, call (781) 489-6262 or visit www.massecon.com. Government Reception Nov. 30: The Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield presents its annual Government Reception at the Carriage House at Storrowton Tavern, Eastern States Exposition, Memorial Avenue, West Springfield. For more information or to register, visit www.myonlinechamber.
com.

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Springfield Museums Receive Support for ‘Learning Together’

SPRINGFIELD — The Springfield Museums has received a grant for the second year in a row for $95,000 from the MassMutual Financial Group for Learning Together,” a series of educational programs for Springfield Public School students. “Learning Together” addresses the goals of Step Up Springfield, the citywide initiative that challenges the entire community to work together to promote academic proficiency and character development among Springfield’s youth. The grant will support fee waivers for students to participate in educational school group programs at the museums and bus transportation for all fifth-grade students in the city to visit the museums for grade-specific science and social studies programs that target the M a s s a c h u s e t t s Curriculum Frameworks and MCA’s testing. Also, funding will be used toward coupons for a free adult admission to encourage students to visit the museums with their families, and afterschool outreach programs at the North End Youth Center, South End Community Center and Springfield Day Nursery. “Learning Together” activities will take place during the 2005/2006 school year. Throughout the year, museum staff, in consultation with Springfield Public School and MassMutual officials, will evaluate the progress of the project and discuss ways to expand and refine the program in succeeding years.

.Bright Nights Adds ‘Jurassic World’

SPRINGFIELD — The Spirit of Springfield recently announced a major addition to its popular “Bright Nights at Forest Park” for this holiday season – Jurassic World. The 12-piece display is being presented by the MassMutual Financial Group. The new light display features an array of dinosaurs, trees, and an erupting volcano. Jurassic World will be located in the park’s Memorial Grove. Jurassic World is the first major addition to “Bright Nights” since 2002, according to Judith A. Matt, President, Spirit of Springfield. The 11th season of Bright Nights opens Nov. 23 and operates Wednesday through Sunday until Dec. 11. Beginning Dec. 14, the holiday lighting display operates nightly through Jan. 1. Nightly, buses with reservations, are welcome from 5 to 6 p.m. For personal vehicles, Bright Nights is open Monday through Thursday from 6 to 9 p.m. for $12 per vehicle, and 6 to 11 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and holidays at $15 per vehicle.

For more information, call (413) 733-3800 or visit www.brightnights.org.

MHA: Nursing Vacancies Down Slightly

BURLINGTON, Mass. — The vacancy rate for registered nurse positions in Massachusetts hospitals dropped only slightly in 2005, as hospitals continue to battle against the current and looming larger national nursing shortage, according to a new study by the Massachusetts Hospital Association and the Massachusetts Organization of Nurse Executives. According to the survey of hospitals, the RN vacancy rate as of January 2005 was 6.4%, down from 6.8% in 2004 and 8.5% in 2003. The report noted that while vacancy rates have declined for the third consecutive year, they still stand at a high level relative to rates over the 18 years of data collection. National studies suggest that the slight dip in vacancy rates is caused by the reentry to the workforce of older, married nurses responding to increasing RN wages and the toll of relatively high unemployment rates on their families, and more recently, widespread private sector initiatives aimed at increasing the number of people who become nurses. However, these studies say the forecast of a long-term, structural shortage is unchanged. The acute care hospital respondents represented 91% of the state’s 66 acute care hospitals and 94% of the state’s acute care hospital beds.

UMass Computer Models Sharpen Securities Fraud Detection

AMHERST — The world’s largest private- sector securities regulator, the National Assoc. of Securities Dealers (NASD), has teamed up with UMass Amherst researchers to bring cutting-edge computer science to the world of securities fraud. By developing statistical models that assess data that most models can’t manage, the scientists aim to help the NASD discover misconduct among brokers and concentrate regulatory attention on those who are most likely to misbehave. Because broker malfeasance is often encouraged by the presence of those conspiring to commit fraud themselves, the researchers were given the task of developing statistical models that made use of this social aspect of rule-breaking. Such “relational” data is difficult for many models, which often assume independence among records. The work is part of an ongoing, joint project exploring fraud detection by UMass Amherst researchers and the NASD, and it was presented recently by doctoral student Jennifer Neville at the 11th ACM SIGKDD International Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining.

30-Year Mortgage Rates Climb Past 6%

NEW YORK — As realtors note a drop in the housing market frenzy of late, mortgage rates have climbed above 6% — the secondhighest level of the year. According to Freddie Mac, the nation’s housing agency that sells guarantees for home loans, this recent surge can have a psychological effect on persons considering purchasing a home or refinancing a home loan. A chief economist with Freddie Mac speculates that mortgage rates will gradually rise over time but that the 6% rate will hover for awhile before it rises again.

Small Businesses To Benefit From Grants

SPRINGFIELD — Small businesses in the North and South Ends and in Old Hill and Six Corners will benefit from an $80,000 grant administered by the Affiliated Greater Springfield Chambers of Commerce Inc. Several vacant storefronts in each neighborhood will be spruced up and occupied in the hopes it will turn the neighborhood around. Grant money will not be given to the business owners directly, but can be used for architectural costs, marketing, advertising, legal and accounting fees. Bills for the services will be processed through the office of Chamber President Russell F. Denver, who will use the grant money to pay them. Grant money can be used for a new business moving into a storefront or an existing business that wants to expand into an adjacent storefront. The state Division of Employment and Training provided the grant. For more information, contact Denver at (413) 787- 1555.

Two Supermarkets Planned for Sixteen Acres

SPRINGFIELD — Stop & Shop and Big Y Foods announced plans in October forsupermarkets in the city’s Sixteen Acres neighborhood. Big Y plans to reopen a store that was closed two years ago on Wilbraham Road – with a new twist – a smaller, specialty- food theme called Fresh Acres Market. Features of the market would include an area for a farmers market, floral and produce sections, food take-out, a deli and bakery. In addition, the market would feature a gourmet section and conventional store. Stop & Shop has proposed converting 415 Cooley St. into a Super Stop & Shop of 60,000-square-feet, along with 10,000 square feet for other retail space. Stop & Shop has purchased and plans to demolish four homes on Allen Street to accommodate its site needs, however, it still needs zone changes from the Springfield City Council in order to move ahead with its plans.

Food Bank Breaks Ground for Addition

HATFIELD — Western Mass. has a hunger problem, according to Robert Moorehouse, executive director, Food Bank of Western Massachusetts. In an effort to address the rising needs of those facing hunger throughout the region, the Food Bank recently broke ground on a 16,000- square-foot addition that will double the size of its facility. Currently, the Food Bank distributes perishable food to more than 400 shelters, pantries and social service agencies throughout Western Mass. With the new industrial coolers and freezers, the capacity for more perishable food, fruits and vegetables will help provide a healthier diet for the hungry. The Food Bank launched a Room to Grow Campaign last year which has raised $3.6 million toward the new $3.9 million addition. In addition, the Kresge Foundation has offered a $150,000 challenge grant to implement green technology in the new facility.

U.S. Colleges Still Costly

uring the annual survey recently released by the College Board, college cost increases slowed in 2005, the lowest rate since 2001. For students attending a public four-year university, a 7.1% increase is still well above the inflation rate and translates into an average of $5,491 for tuition and fees for one year. Students at two-year public colleges rose by 5.4% to $2,191. At private fouryear, nonprofit colleges, costs increased by 5.9% to $21,235. Most students do not have to pay the full price because of loans and grants, as well as tax breaks. The College Board noted that while total financial aid is increasing, loans accounted for more of the growth than grants for the third consecutive year. Students have to pay back loans, but not grants. Undergraduate borrowers are seeing an average debt of $15,500 – an amount that most experts feel is manageable for students. The College Board also criticized the proliferation of popular state programs that award college grants based on merit and not need.

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The following Business Certificates and Trade Names were issued or renewed during the month of October 2005

AMHERST

Jones Properties LTD
Partnership
53 Hobart Lane
$5,000 — Construct handicap ramp at front of building, deck and ramp at rear

Woodgreen Amherst Limited Partnership
6 University Dr.
$2,000 — Install sign at
UPS Store

HOLYOKE

Hazen Paper Co.
240 Southwater St.
$18,350 — Re-roof

NORTHAMPTON

Kollmorgen Corporation
347 King St.
$76,000 — Install three overhead doors in tower Northampton Aeronautics
Inc.
152 Cross Path Road
$14,850 — Demolish
7,920 square-foot building

SPRINGFIELD

City of Springfield
200 Bernie Ave.
$167,000 — Construct new
dental clinic
Springfield College
283 Allen St.
$20,850 — Install new metal decking

WESTFIELD

Getty
41 Franklin St.
$57,000 — Renovate
interior White Street School
300 White St.
$32,000 — Install new insulation

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Baystate Achieves ‘Magnet’ Status

SPRINGFIELD — Baystate Medical Center and its nurses have been named a Magnet™ hospital for excellence in nursing services by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), a subsidiary of the American Nurses Assoc., earning what less than 3% of the nation’s hospitals have achieved. Earning Magnet hospital status is among the highest of distinctions a hospital and its nurses can achieve, recognizing the caliber of its nursing staff. There are only five Magnet hospitals in Massachusetts, including Baystate, and 13 in New England and 170 nationwide. The Magnet Recognition Program® establishes standards of excellence which health care organizations must attain. Magnet designation helps consumers locate health care organizations that have a proven level of excellence in nursing care and assists hospitals in attracting and retaining quality employees.

WNEC One of ‘America’s Best Colleges’

SPRINGFIELD — U.S. News and World Report has again named Western New England College (WNEC) as one of “America’s Best Colleges.” The magazine ranked WNEC in the top tier of masterslevel universities in the North. For the purpose of its rankings, the magazine compared WNEC with 164 other schools in the North who offer a full range of undergraduate programs and some master’s level programs. This is the second year in a row that WNEC has been ranked in the top tier. In determining the rankings, U.S. News and World Report collected data on more than 1,400 schools nationwide. The magazine assesses schools on 15 separate indicators of academic quality, including academic reputation, freshman retention and graduation rates, class size, student/faculty ratios, and academic achievement among incoming freshmen. WNEC received high marks for the number and quality of its faculty, small class sizes, and per-student expenditures.

Holyoke Health Center Receives $300,000 Grant

HOLYOKE — The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation has awarded $3 million in grants to 10 nonprofit health care organizations across the state in an effort to reduce racial and ethnic health care disparities, including $300,000 to the Holyoke Health Center. Modeling this new program on its successful diabetes and weight loss programs, the Holyoke Health Center will provide a series of interventions tailored to the psychosocial and cultural needs of Holyoke Latinos who have or are at high risk for developing cardiovascular disease. The foundation’s grants across the state will support initiatives that take a comprehensive and innovative approach to improving access and reducing barriers to health care and support services for racial and ethnic minorities. In the largest grant program yet established by the foundation, each of the grant recipients will receive $300,000 to fund one year of program planning and two years of program implementation.

Spalding’s Heavy Duty NBA Ball Truck Debuts

SPRINGFIELD — A new Spalding NBA pro grade ball truck – an indestructible unit with improved performance for NBA players and equipment managers – will debut this season on NBA courts. Spalding has outfitted the 30 NBA teams with two mammoth-sized ball carts made to withstand the rigors of the NBA arenas. Comprised of heavy duty, all metallic, square and rectangle structural tubing, sheet metal and solid rod, the new trucks were furnished to each NBA team along with 50 laser engraved NBA leather game balls (each with their respective team name). Both the truck and the NBA basketballs feature Spalding’s new logo and S icon and represent Spalding’s new “True to the Game” positioning. According to company officials, Spalding is in the development stages of creating a replica ball truck for consumers in 2006 with plans for distribution through www.NBA.com and institutional channels.

New Name for Baystate

SPRINGFIELD — In October, Baystate Health System simplified its corporate name to Baystate Health. Baystate officials stress that the name change better emphasizes the mission of improving the health of the communities it serves. The new name is also reflected in two entities of Baystate – the Baystate Medical Center Children’s Hospital is now Baystate Children’s Hospital, and BHS Ambulance is now Baystate Health Ambulance. A new logo was also part of the overall marketing strategy.

Coldwell Banker Opens New Office

EAST LONGMEADOW — Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage recently held a reception to celebrate the opening of a new, high-tech, expansive real estate sales facility at 55 North Main St., which will continue to support East Longmeadow and Greater Springfield, Enfield, Somers and Suffield. The opening was attended by more than 100 Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage sales associates and employees. Rick Loughlin, President of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Central New England, was joined by Robert Molta, regional vice president Central New England, and additional Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage senior executives, to welcome the sales associates to their new location. East Longmeadow resident Marilyn Ghedini is the sales manager for the new location with responsibility for more than 30 sales associates and staff.

Fran Johnson’s Marks 30th Anniversary

WEST SPRINGFIELD — Fran Johnson’s Golf & Tennis will celebrate 30 years in business from Nov. 11-13 with a community event that will include the opportunity to donate to the American Red Cross to help assist hurricane relief efforts. Highlights of the three-day event include a putting contest that will feature three age divisions, 5-7, 7-16, and adult. In addition, silent auction tables will feature a variety of items including golf equipment, golf trips, and tennis packages. Area residents are also invited to donate used golf clubs that can be refurbished for its Clubs for Kids program. The 15-year-old program refurbishes clubs and distributes them to area junior programs. For more information, visit www.franjohnsons.com.

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Departments

The following is a compilation of recent lawsuits involving area businesses and organizations. These are strictly allegations that have yet to be proven in a court of law.

Readers are advised to contact the parties listed, or the court, for more information concerning the individual claims.

NORTHAMPTON DISTRICT COURT

Jack Richeson & Co. Inc. v. Guild Art Centre Inc.

Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to
pay for goods sold and delivered:
$11,265.49
Date Filed: Sept. 7

SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT COURT

United Rentals (North America Inc.) v.
Hope Trucking & Demo Inc. and Frank
A. Hope III

Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to
pay for goods and services: $16,788.61
Date Filed: Sept. 15

Home Lumber Co. Inc. v. Athanasios
Asimakopoulos a/k/a Thomas
Asimakopoulos d/b/a T.A. Woodworking
a/k/a T.A. Woodworks
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to
pay for goods sold and delivered: $8,432.74
Date Filed: Sept. 15
Medical Diagnostics & Rehab d/b/a MVA
Center for Rehabilitation v. Premier
Insurance Co.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to
pay for bills for services for covered clients:
$2,181.06
Date Filed: Sept. 19

HAMPDEN SUPERIOR COURT

Alton & Gleason Co. Inc. v. CAP
Development Corp. and Mheid-Koseissi Inc.
Allegation: Breach of performance: $27,460
Date Filed: Sept. 19

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Departments

The following Business Certificates and Trade Names were issued or renewed during the month of October 2005.

AGAWAM

Online Distributions
76 Dogwood Lane
Kimberly Kersey
Shop Easy Enterprise
650 Suffield St.
Latif Abdul

AMHERST

For Pet’s Sake
29 Amity Place
Jill Westley

Subway of Amherst
4 Main St.
Ivan Tristan

CHICOPEE

KM Home Improvement
95 Southwick St.
Keith Mortineau

The Natural Look
766B Memorial Dr.
Hang T. Bui

Transitional Funding Agency
796 Burnett Road
Bruce Gutkowski

HOLYOKE

Aquilas Market
773 Dwight St.
Luz Ramos

Farms Auto
200 Whiting Farms Road
James Levelle

Moore & Moore Enterprises
10B Maplecrest Circle
Michael Moore

LONGMEADOW

Matthew Brais Home Improvement
93 Westmoreland Ave.
Matthew Brais

NORTHAMPTON

Lucky Nails
1 Round House Plaza
Truong Vo Minh Nguyen

On the Level

50 Chapel St.
Shawn and Helicia Forest

SOUTH HADLEY

Suds Your Duds
14 Main St.
Preston and Wilson Carr

SPRINGFIELD

Asher’s Teaching Service
195 Hickory St.
Katrika James

Curves
1916 Wilbraham Road
L. Lee Scott

Dwight Convenience Store
135 Dwight St.
Lack Shah
KDM Assoc.
1535 Wilbraham Road
Kristoffer Manalohan

M & MB
Express 164 Jeffrey
Road
Edwin McCray
Pete Williams
191 Wellington
St. Pete Williams

Smoothie Delight
1535 Wilbraham Road
Kristoffer Manalohan

Victor Figueroa Communication
145 Nassau Dr.
Victor Figueroa

WEST SPRINGFIELD

Carrabba’s Italian Grill
955 Riverdale
St. Thomas
Schwensfeir

Expo Liquors
1122 Memorial
Ave. Dadson Inc.

S & M Auto
Repair 22 Summer St.
Donald Schebel

WestSide Urban Gear
440 Main St.
Sonia Tyndal

WESTFIELD

Garvey Landscaping
23 Crescent Circle
Patrick Garvey

Opal Ventures VI
162 Southampton St.
Jaafar Kafel

By
Departments

The following business incorporations were recorded in Hampden and Hampshire counties, and are the latest available. They are listed by community.

AGAWAM

Heather A. Pellerin Inc., 26E
Castle Hill Road, Agawam
01001. Heather A. Pellerin,
same. Providing court room and stenographer services.

AMHERST

AK Technologies Inc., 36
Hitching Post, Amherst 01002.
Andrey Kvasyuk, same.
Computer technology services.

Legal Problem Solving P.C.,
67 No. Pleasant St., Amherst
01002. Michael J. Mascic,
same. The practice of law.

Sunwood Builders Inc., 84
Potwine Lane, Amherst 01002.
Shaul Perry, same.
Construction, repairing and renovating
commercial and residential structures.

BELCHERTOWN

Sun Struck Tanning Salon
Inc., 39 Federal St.,
Belchertown 01007. Lisa C.
Murphy, 80 North Main St.,
#1, Belchertown 01007.
Tanning salon.

CHICOPEE

Eurobex USA Inc., 285
McKinstry Ave., Chicopee
01013. Maurizio Ciocca, 4175
St. Catherine St., West, Apt.
505, Montreal, Quebec,
Canada H3Z 3C9.

Robert G. Agnoli,
1391 Main
St., Springfield 01103,
registered agent. (Foreign
corp; DE) Warehousing and
distribution of electrical boxes.

J P Fitness Inc.,
29 White
Birch Plaza, Chicopee 01020.
Aaron Patterson, 187
Venntura St., Ludlow 01056.
Ladies fitness center with
circuit training, etc.

JSLC Corp.,
232 Fletcher Cir.,
Chicopee 01020. Joseph
Martin, same. To operate UPS
stores.

S. G. Contractors Corp.,
419 Mont Calm St., #404,
Chicopee 01020. Gurdayal
Singh, same. Construction.

HOLYOKE

Dhaliwal 2 Inc.
, 1532 – 1534
Dwight St., Holyoke 01040.
Rattan Singh, same. Sale of
pizza, sandwiches, pasta, and
soft drinks.

Kay/Bravo Pest Management
Services Inc., 225 High St.,
#501, Holyoke 01040. Larry
Villalobos, same. Inspection,
control and extermination of
wood destroying insects, pests,
etc.

Mendoza Inc.,
One Main St.,
Holyoke 01040. Robert
Mendoza, 36 Pleasant St.,
Westfield 01085.
Transportation of individuals
and families by chauffered
vehicles.

HOLLAND

Northeast Concepts Inc., 16
Lakeridge Dr., Holland 02521.
Chad E. Brigham, same. Real estate development and
construction.

EAST LONGMEADOW

Court Street Management, L.L.C.,
200 North Main St.,
Suite 204, East Longmeadow
01028. Ernest A. Gralia, III, 24
Ridgewood Road, East
Longmeadow 01028. To deal in
real estate.

LONGMEADOW

IQ Design Group Inc.,
56 Severn St., Longmeadow 01106.
Eve K. Kinne, same. To own
and operate an interior design
business and deal in related
products and services.

Meridian Street Management
Co. Inc., 200 North Main St.,
Suite 204, East Longmeadow
01028. Ernest A. Gralia, III, 24
Ridgewood Road, East
Longmeadow 01028. Real estate
development.

LUDLOW

Advance Way
Inc., 146
Laconia St.,
Ludlow 01056. Masanori
Kofune, same. International business consulting.

NORTHAMPTON

Collective Initiatives Inc.,
43 Center St.,
Northampton
01060. Wilton
Earle Hall, III, 3
Edwards Square, Northampton 01060.
(Nonprofit) To promote collective based social education and action initiatives outside the cultural and political mainstream, etc.

SPRINGFIELD

Exile Entertainment
Corp., 935 Main
St., Springfield
01103. Paul V.
Ramesh, same.
To own, lease and operate restaurants, taverns, clubs, etc.

Family Group
Inc., 52
Thornton St.,
Springfield
01104. Michael
L. Burton, same.
To own and operate an automobile repair business.

GL Rising Inc.,
155 Chestnut St., Suite 315,
Springfield 01103.
Gerald F. Rising, 77 Garfield
St., Springfield 01108. To operate a cleaning business.

K. C. Temp Service Inc.,
Wilbraham Road, Springfield
01109. Kim Lam, same.
Temporary employment agency.

New World Real Estate Inc.,
2460 Main St., Springfield
01107. Pedro M. Gonzalez, 216
Springfield St., Springfield
01107. To deal in real estate.

WKB Carpentry Inc.,
44 SavoyAve., Springfield 01104.
William K. Butler Jr., same.
Carpentry service.

WILBRAHAM
Dejavous Hair and Nail Salon
Inc., 1038 Boston Road,
Wilbraham 01095. Lisa A.
Wilson, 85 Glenwood St.,
Ludlow 01056. To carry on the
business of cosmetology.

WEST SPRINGFIELD

Cap & Hitch of New England
Inc., 2001 Riverdale Road,
West Springfield 01089. Shane
M. Duffy, 158 Fountain St.,
Springfield 01108. To install
and sell truck caps, hitches, and accessories.

Ethnic Foods Inc.,
233 Christopher Terrace, West
Springfield 01089. Maria A. Pitaridis, same. Restaurant specializing in Greek food.

US Telecom Group Inc.

354 Lancaster Ave., West
Springfield 01089. Joey Sutton,
same. Telecommunications.

Staying the Course with Charlie Ryan

By
Opinion
There doesn’t seem to be much interest in this fall’s municipal election in Springfield, and that’s understandable.

Many Springfield residents are apparently of the opinion that the state-appointed control board is calling all the shots, especially with regard to the budget, and that it doesn’t really matter who is elected to serve the community as mayor, city councilor, school board member, or other office holder.

While the control board certainly holds most of the power in Springfield, it is wrong to believe that this election doesn’t have much meaning, especially in the mayor’s race.
The next two years will be pivotal for Springfield. What transpires will likely determine how soon the city can regain control of its finances, and what kind of community we will have when the control board packs its bags — hopefully in July 2007.

And that’s why we strongly endorse Mayor Charles Ryan for re-election. He has the strong leadership skills — and the ability to make hard decisions — that will be needed over the next two years. Ryan, who will be in his 80s by the end of 2007, will likely not seek another term beyond the next one, but he can use the next two years to construct a solid platform on which the next generation of Springfield’s leaders can operate.

Ryan was given an extremely difficult challenge when he took office in January, 2004: starting the process of repairing the considerable damage done to the city’s balance sheet, and its psyche, by an utterly corrupt Michael J. Albano administration. And we believe he has done an admirable job with that assignment.

Much work needs to be done in many areas, including public safety, education, and the broad topic of economic development, but we see some progress on many of these fronts. And any progress would be an accomplishment given the depth of the hole the city found itself in courtesy of its former mayor.

Indeed, the city had real problems with everything from paying its bills to putting police on the streets — and, as a result, had a massive public relations problem as well. Over the course of the past year or so, every major regional newspaper, from The Boston Globe to the Worcester Telegram to the Hartford Courant turned the spotlight on the City of Homes. The headlines varied but the theme was the same: ‘What’s Wrong with Springfield?’

The answer is complicated, and Ryan understood that going in. He also understood that the place to start — beyond the hard work on the city’s bottom line — was restoring trust in City Hall and the people who work there.

Albano’s legacy is a faulty bureaucracy defined by greed, cronyism, and rampant criminal activity. Ryan has taken major steps toward repairing the city’s tarnished image and restoring trust in local government.

With that foundation now laid, he should be given the chance to build on it.

We are especially eager to see progress on the economic development front. If Springfield is to see the kind of rebound everyone wants, there must be an infusion of new, well-paying jobs. To attract those jobs and the companies that provide them, the city must foster new-business development, while also focusing on what David Panagore, deputy executive director of the control board and this issue’s cover story, calls the “fundamentals” of economic development.

By this, he means a focus not only on the six or so major (and also stalled) projects in the city like Union Station, the old Hall of Fame, and the York Street jail, but also on safe streets, education, neighborhoods, and parks.

Charlie Ryan knows all about these fundamentals, and offers real leadership in the ongoing, and critical, work to give people reasons to live and work in Springfield.

Ryan has spent the past two years digging Springfield out of a very deep hole. But the job is far from complete. When it is, there remains the task of fully restoring confidence in a community that has little of that precious commodity left.

For both of these reasons, voters should take this fall’s election seriously, and give Ryan another two years to finish what he’s started.

Going Beyond Laptops

By
Opinion
Gov. Mitt Romney’s proposal to equip all secondary school students in Massachusetts public schools with laptop computers is a necessary first step toward providing a 21st century education to all our young people. Such an initiative, properly implemented, can help raise student aspirations and assist them in developing the skills they will need to succeed in school and in life.

The 2004 report of the Special Commission on Educational Technology, made up of educators, business leaders, legislators, and representatives of the administration, supported a one-to-one, student-to-computer ratio as a means to achieve equity and improved learning, to involve and communicate with parents, and to interest students in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics skills valued in our economy. This report, and the dozens of statewide and district laptop initiatives that have been implemented over the past five years, point to some important lessons about how to proceed and what to expect.

One lesson is the necessity of professional development for teachers. Laptops can catalize positive changes in teaching and learning only if teachers take the lead through effective use of the technology to transform classroom instruction, and if teachers and principals learn to use technology to help them make sound instructional decisions based on achievement data. This will require training and support.

Another lesson is to plan well for robust networking and to budget for the total cost of ownership of the hardware, including maintenance, repairs, upgrades, and technical support. We must make certain from the start that the choice of hardware and software supports the many dozens of applications that have proven effective. The governor’s plan to make replacement laptops a yearly part of the budget in schools makes sense.

A final important lesson is that we will see “soft” results before test scores show any change — improved attendance, decreased discipline problems, and increased student engagement in learning. Evaluations thus need to focus on students’ attitudes and what teachers find successful, not just on test scores. This is an investment in our future workforce and the payback will take time.

The controversy about the governor’s plan to use low-cost laptops — being developed at MIT for schools in developing countries — has diverted attention from a key point: Whatever hardware we choose, Massachusetts must act now, or our students will soon be losing ground in the race for 21st century skills to millions more potential competitors around the world.

Students will recognize this initiative as a vote of confidence. They see that the world is changing rapidly and that to compete they must master the computer and the Internet with newfound information-age skills. If we challenge them to excel at writing, presentation, collaboration, analysis, and logical thinking — and give them the tools to meet those challenges — they will create a prosperous future for themselves and the Commonwealth.

Andre Meyer is senior vice president for Communications and Research at Associated Industries of Massachusetts. Isa Kaftal Zimmerman is chairman of the Educational Technology Advisory Council and director of Professional Education at Lesley University.

Is Your Business Identity at Risk?

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Uncategorized
Personal information is not the only target for identity thieves. Criminals are targeting large and small businesses as well. Any person or entity that has a name and a tax number is at risk of becoming a victim of fraud and identity theft.

Identity thieves target businesses because the financial reward appears greater. A corporation with good credit and large assets can provide a thief with hundreds of thousands of dollars in products or services.

Business identity theft can result from the same low-tech means of obtaining information as individual identity theft. It can also be accomplished through diligent searches of corporate filings, patent filings, and other public information. Business identity thieves usually work with accomplices. These thieves are diligent, taking the time to create the illusion of authority on the part of their targeted victims.

The range of theft varies depending on the business targeted, from document theft, counterfeiting, impersonation, forgery, and theft. These acts can result in changes to the corporate structure including the principals, the company address, the corporate minutes, real estate holdings and asset transfers.

Document theft can be a big source of information. It comes in two types, corporate espionage and identity theft. Corporate espionage doesn’t need James Bond anymore. It can be accomplished by going through a company’s trash. High-tech methods are also used to obtain information as well as create false documents, corporate ID’s, or bank documents.

Business thieves can pose as legitimate representatives from your business to make large purchases or obtain credit. This could include new computers, office equipment, and corporate credit cards. Thieves establish credit with the vendors, place their orders, and have the merchandise delivered to a new location. Never having been paid for the merchandise, the vendors will eventually come to you for payment.

Companies have discovered unauthorized product purchases, unauthorized agreements to connect or disconnect services, unauthorized real estate transactions such as selling the company-owned real estate, and the unauthorized use of private client or employee information.

This could also mean that an imposter has changed your company’s current information on your accounts to redirect correspondence directly to the thieves. By doing this, the thieves establish a relationship with the vendors, and the vendors are less likely to take notice of any red flags as others proceed with their schemes to defraud your company.

Unexpected calls could be your first alert that something huge is brewing. Don’t ignore the underlying issue. Find out who authorized the change in service and the reason for the change request. The reason for given to the utility service could be the underlying target of fraud. One of the most common reasons for a change in utility service by an established company is due to the pending sale of property. This could be your wake up call to investigate deeper.

Here are some other red flags to alert you of potential problems:

• Invoices for unfamiliar goods or services;
• Unexplained or unauthorized charges on business credit cards;
• Unexpected notice from a collection agency about an unfamiliar debt;
• Unusual telephone charges;
• Unexpected or unexplained change of your address;
• Unexpected calls from new vendors;
• Unexpected calls from utility services; and
• An unexpected decrease in the number of calls you usually receive from your usual vendors or bank.

If you suspect your company is a victim of business identity theft you should obtain as much information as possible from the source of the suspected transaction. Get names, dates, phone numbers, whatever information you can as to who authorized the fraudulent activities. Make sure you keep a log containing the name and phone number contacts you talk with.

Just as in personal identity theft cases, a police report is an important first step. A police report will help to re-establish your good business name and credit with the companies defrauded by the criminals. The more information you can obtain form the source of the unauthorized activity the more complete the police report will be. Make sure the police take the time to make a full report of your incident.

Prompt action on your part can help limit the negative affects of identity theft. In the event you, an employee or your business becomes a victim follow the checklist below.

  • Contact the credit bureaus. For business identity theft contact Experian PO Box 2104 Allen, TX 75013 www.experian.com and Dun & Bradstreet 103 JFK Parkway, Short Hills, NJ 07078www.dnb.com
  • For personal identity theft contact the three major credit agencies. Equifax 1-800-685-1111www.econsumer.equifax.com, Experian 1-888-397-3742 www.experian.com and TransUnion 1-800-888-4213www.transunion.com
  • File a police report and contact the Federal Trade Commission. 877-IDTHEFT (438-4338);
  • Contact your creditors. All credit card companies, mortgage companies or banks. Any company where you have loans, credit cards or lines of credit. This includes vendors;
  • Stop payment on any stolen checks and close unauthorized or compromised accounts;
  • Contact your state’s public utilities commission and remove fraudulent cell phone charges. Federal Communications Commission 888-CALL-FCC (225-5322);
  • Report stolen Social Security numbers to the Social Security Administration 800-772-1213;
  • Notify your local department of motor vehicles (DMV) to make sure someone doesn’t attempt to get a driver’s license or register a car using your identity or your business identity.
  • Obtain copies of corporate filings from the Secretary of State where your business is registered. Look for any new filings or amendments which may contain information which could lead to the discovery of the criminals involved.

Business identity theft is a growing crime. It may be more prevalent than we think. No business wants the public to know their information has been compromised. Loss of time and money to recover, loss of integrity and client trust could all be side effects of being a victim of business identity theft.

Cindy Schroeter Graham is an author, speaker and expert on identity theft prevention, providing secure information handling evaluations and implementations to businesses nationwide. Her book, “Who Else is You?” outlines strategies on reducing the risk of becoming an identity theft victim;www.whoelseisyou.com.

Baystate Ob/Gyn.

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Jackie Bouchard (left) and Virginia Vogt Pisano
Sections Supplements
Medical Practice Expands its Horizons
Jackie Bouchard (left) and Virginia Vogt Pisano

Jackie Bouchard (left) and Virginia Vogt Pisano of Baystate Ob/Gyn

For months, Virginia Vogt Pisano, practice administrator for Baystate Ob/Gyn Group Inc., and assistant administrator Jackie Bouchard, have been inundated by new terminology, technology, and their share of headaches as they work to unroll a new electronic medical records (EMR) system at the practice.
It’s just one cog in the works that make Baystate Ob/Gyn a successful business as well as medical practice in Western Mass., but it serves as an excellent example of how those two sides of the company must work together at all times in order move forward as a thriving, progressive, and, above all, safe health care business serving women of all ages across the region. Baystate Ob/Gyn has been recognized and lauded for that growth by the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce Super 60 program, which put the practice among the top 10 – number nine – for revenue growth.

“As we expand,” explained Vogt Pisano, “new technology – and the issues implementing that new technology can present – is just one thing that drives us to continue to focus on providing quality care to our patients. It forces us to figure out the best way to implement new procedures, to learn everything we can about them and to value the input of everyone here, and it is one reason why we are providing great care, growing as a business, and can also be recognized for that growth by something like the Super 60.”

Indeed, several changes have been in the works in addition to the introduction of the EMR system at Baystate Ob/Gyn, which will create a paperless office and represents the first step in regional, clinical integration, according to Vogt Pisano, which will likely be ongoing in Western Mass. for the next 10 to 15 years.

Fast Facts :

Company:Baystate Ob/Gyn
Address:Administrative offices; 246 Park Street, Suite 202, West Springfield, MA 01089
Phone:(413) 794-4744; Fax: (413) 787-5277
Web site:www.bogg.com
Products/services:obstetric and gynecological practice service women in Western Mass

New health care providers have also joined the company in order to focus on the specific needs of women at different stages of life, such as the teenage years, childbearing age, and the golden years. The practice’s suite of outpatient and minimally invasive surgeries has broadened to offer more comprehensive and convenient care to its patients, including a progressive sterilization procedure called Essure, only available locally through Baystate Ob/Gyn. Bouchard noted that the practice has also begun to focus more on alternative health options for women, in order to provide not only more convenient and comprehensive care, but more holistic care as well.

“For us, better care equals better business, and vice versa,” said Bouchard.

And she and Vogt Pisano agreed that Baystate Ob/Gyn has seen definite signs of that business improvement over the past two years.

“We have no complaints,” Vogt Pisano said. “We increased our business size in 2003, and our provider base increased. What I’ve seen since then is the same high level of care for our patients and the same high level of organization within the business, but on a larger scale.”

Examining Culture

That expansion in 2003 included a new location, creating a five-office network in Springfield, West Springfield, South Hadley, and East Longmeadow, and necessitating, Vogt Pisano said, a “very intentional culture change” within the business, which now employs about 75 people.

“It has been challenging but enjoyable putting this group together,” she said. “We worked hard to create that new culture because of the specific goals we wanted to achieve; many practices, as they get larger, tend to centralize, but our growth has been very different. Because women’s health is so community-based, we have expanded across the region, and yet still understand that it is of the utmost importance to maintain community involvement and a small-practice feel in order to be successful.”

Part of creating a new corporate culture that would preserve the practice’s accessibility for all types of patients and also grow and change within the increasingly technology-based industry of health care, Vogt Pisano explained, is to recruit physicians, midwives, and other health care providers specializing in a variety of areas within obstetrics and gynecology. That allows the practice to appeal to many age groups – teens, the elderly, and women of child-bearing age, for instance – and allows each physician to concentrate on his or her own specialties, thus improving the quality of care their patients will ultimately receive as they progress in their own careers and professional interests.

“It’s also a real draw for physicians that they will be able to focus on their specialties, rather than stretch themselves across a wide gamut of services,” she added, noting that anything that attracts new providers to Massachusetts is a boon for both the economy and the quality of care available in the Commonwealth.

“It’s hard to recruit physicians to Massachusetts, particularly in ob/gyn, she said. “We can’t ignore the issues surrounding malpractice liability; it’s a huge issue that will continue to be a challenge. I do believe, however, that the collaborative model we have developed here is helping us to attract the best providers as well as helping us achieve the needed balance between clinical and business issues.”

Model Employees

That model also takes into account several other issues surrounding ob/gyn, including the need for female providers and employees, who relate well to patients, and further diversify the profession, and the inclusion of all employees at all levels within the organization when formulating plans for the future or when problem solving.
Bouchard said she views the businesses’ model for staff involvement one if its keys for success.

“Everyone has a piece of the pie,” she said. “We’re firm believers in understanding first how people do what they do, then asking for their input on issues that they are involved with every day.

“You have to listen to people and appreciate their insights and ideas,” she continued. “That is one way that we balance the clinical and business sides of things, and keep the entire practice in balance.”

And Bouchard added that no other area is affected more by the crossover between clinical and business concerns that technology upgrades at Baystate Ob/Gyn. The practice’s EMR system, for instance, will be rolled out in stages and is expected to be fully operational and in use by the practices’ clinical professionals by January. The system will have a notable effect on the streamlining and accessibility of patient information, not to mention the fulfillment of HIPAA privacy and security requirements. But implementing the system has been no easy feat, requiring not only the introduction of a system foreign to all of Baystate Ob/Gyn’s employees, but also a new, broader way of doing things on an every day basis that employees will have to adjust to.

It’s attention to the smaller things that many administrators would otherwise not think of when implementing the system that Vogt Pisano thinks will ultimately make the change a successful one.

Nurses, for instance, were able to collaborate with others to voice their concerns and to rectify them. They told Vogt Pisano they didn’t want a system that required a lot of navigation just to get to one portion of a patient’s record, because that would affect the quality of patient care. They were also concerned about the overall size of the electronic equipment they would be using; both of those concerns, and others, were taken into account when choosing a system and a method of introducing the new procedures.

Technically Speaking

“I think we’ve done a good job of it,” Vogt Pisano said. “Everyone has had training. This has been a lot of work, but EMR has become a huge part of our practice, and will be part of our ultimate success. But people are reinventing the wheel constantly when it comes to health care technology, and I think our model is one that will allow us to embrace those new challenges and move forward with positive growth and excellent care.

“I’m excited about continuing to offer excellent care to our patients during challenging times.”

Jaclyn Stevenson can be reached at[email protected]

Chamber Salutes Top-performing Companies

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Super 60
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Chamber Salutes Top-performing Companies
Super 60

Super 60

The Affiliated Chambers of Commerce of Greater Springfield’s Super 60 companies reveal the strong diversity of the region’s economy, and the breadth and depth of the small companies that form its backbone. From a manufacturer of cremation urns to a maker of high-powered hand dryers; from a day care center to a private college, the companies on the list have a common denominator — success.

Higher education and health care. Those are two of the economic sectors displaying strength and resilience in the Pioneer Valley, and areas producing many of the area’s new jobs.

So it’s not surprising that both realms are well represented on the Affiliated Chambers of Commerce (ACCGS) Super 60 list for 2005. Indeed, three of the top performers on the ‘Total Revenue’ chart are private colleges based in Springfield — Western New England College, American International College, and Springfield College. Meanwhile, both the Revenue and ‘Revenue Growth’ lists are dotted with health care and health care-related businesses — from physician groups to a chain of drug stores.

But there are many other business sectors represented on the lists as well, from retail to manufacturing, transportation to hospitality.

“Diversity — that’s the strength of our local economy; we’re not dependent on any one area,” said ACCGS President Russell F. Denver. “The Super 60 list has always reflected that diversity; it’s an accurate barometer of the health of our business community.

BusinessWest looks this issue at those barometric readings, and what the Super 60 list reveals. Scanning the names, Denver said the compilation, which includes a mix of familiar names and new faces, reveals that many companies of all sizes are doing well, and that bodes well for the Pioneer Valley.

Blanket Coverage

The diversity that Denver spoke of can be clearly seen in the Super 60’s Revenue category.

At the top of the chart is a veteran of the program, Pride Convenience Inc., which operates gas stations and convenience stores, and is advancing plans to build more (see related story, page 19). But there are also the three colleges on the list, some retailers — including two auto dealerships, a recreational vehicle seller, and Manny’s TV and Appliance — and an engineering firm specializing in the design of food-processing plants (the Dennis Group).

And then, there’s Berkshire Blanket, the Ware-based manufacturer of fleece blankets that has seen strong, steady growth over the past several years.

The health care sector is also well represented in the Revenue category, with a mix of ventures, including Disability Management Services Inc., Louis & Clark Drug, Hampden County Physicians Inc., and the Mental Health Association.

“Diversity — that’s the strength of our local economy; we’re not dependent on any one area. The Super 60 list has always reflected that diversity; it’s an accurate barometer of the health of our business community.”

To qualify for the Revenue list, companies needed to compile at least $1 million in sales in 2004. The average for the 30 companies that made the list, however, was more than $30 million. Combined the Revenue winners logged more than $1.1 billion in total sales.

The top five Revenue companies were:Pride, Peter Pan Bus Lines, Springfield College, Western New England College, and Northeast Treaters. Berkshire Blanket was one of nine newcomers to the list. The others were Astro Chemicals, Environmental Compliance Services (previously listed on Revenue Growth lists), Heatbath Corp., M.J. Moran Corp., Manny’s, Mental Health Associates, Sound Seal, and Springfield College.

While diversity is prevalent on the Revenue list, the word defines the Revenue Growth chart, as a look at the top-five performers reveals.

First-place finisher Brookdale Associates is a machine tool distributor. The runner-up, meanwhile, a Westfield-based venture called Little Rill Corp., specializes in the packaging of ice-melt and other products for national manufacturers. Third on the list is a staffing agency (United Personnel Services), followed by Dimauro Carpet and Tile, and an insurance agency (Field Eddy & Bulkley).

Further down the list one finds a day care center, a farmers’ supply company, a truss-making venture (see related story, page 22), a company making a new, more powerful line of hand dryers, Springfield Spring , and MacKenzie Vault Inc., the East Longmeadow-based maker of cremation urns.

There are also several health care-related businesses on the Growth list. They include Baystate Ob/Gyn Group , Micro Test Laboratories, a pharmaceuticals manufacturer, Consolidated Health Plans, and Pediatric Services of Greater Springfield.

Nearly half the companies on the ‘Growth’ list are newcomers. They are ACT Vehicle Equipment Inc., Allston Supply Co., Amherst Farmers Supply Inc., Dimauro Carpet & Tile, Excel Dryer, Field Eddy & Bulkley, James J. Dowd and Sons Insurance Agency Inc., Little Rill, Mackenzie Vault, Norman B. Keady Const. Co., Pediatric Services, Springfield Spring, Truss Engineering Corp., and Wright Architectural Millwork.

To make the Growth chart, companies needed to log at least 20.6% growth over the past three years. The average for the group, however, was 49%, and three-quarters of the firms on the list recorded at least 30% over that time.

The Super 60 companies will be honored at a luncheon at Chez Josef on Oct. 28. For more information, or to order tickets, call (413) 755-1313, or visitwww.myonlinechamber.com.

Berkshire Blanket

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Berkshire Blanket President Rick Lotuff
Sections Supplements
Area Blanket Manufacturer Finds its Comfort Zone
Berkshire Blanket President Rick Lotuff

Berkshire Blanket President Rick Lotuff

Berkshire Blanket, based in Ware, offers an ‘absolute guarantee’ on all its products. If at any time a Berkshire blanket isn’t deemed warm, soft, or durable enough by a customer, it can be replaced.

Company President Rick Lotuff said requests for new blankets are rare, but they do happen. One customer recently called in, for instance, with a receipt dating back seven years in hand – and said her blanket was starting to wear down. Based in part on his amazement that she had retained her receipt, but more so on that lifetime guarantee his company offers, Lotuff made sure a new blanket was in the mail to the customer right away.

“It’s about creating repeat customers,” he said. “If I maintain a strong relationship with our customers and show them that we are true to our word, they’re going to tell their friends about us, and we are going to grow.”

Berkshire Blanket was actually born out of a similar friendly gesture in 1993. Lotuff’s sister, Mary, conceived the simple idea of creating a fleece blanket, sewing a homemade gift for a friend using some extra material she found at Rick’s former sew-and-cut business.

The polyester fleece material, often used in jackets and other outdoor apparel, proved to serve well as a warm, soft blanket, and an appreciated gift. It wasn’t long after that Mary, Rick, and their brother Joe collaborated on a second blanket, this time a prototype for a product they felt had some potential to sell. They borrowed their mother’s idea for a name – Berkshire Blanket, chosen because its alliterative quality was appealing and, they thought, best reflected the type of product they hoped to market: quality, aesthetic blankets and throws that were manufactured with care to be long-lasting and, above all, warm.

Fast Facts:

Company:Berkshire Blanket Inc.
Address:44 East Main Street, Ware, MA 01082
Phone:(800) 372-2018
Web Site:www.berkshireblanket.com
Chief Executive:Rick Lotuff
Products/Services:synthetic and natural blankets, throws, and other products

They might not have guessed right away, however, how much early success the company would enjoy. The same year that first blanket was sewn, Berkshire Blanket made its first sale to a national company; Lotuff showed the sample blanket to management at Marshall’s department stores, and immediately, the company bought 3,600 pieces.

Berkshire’s mission, Lotuff explained, is to continue to create simple, quality products using the best materials, which in turn enhance life’s “quiet moments.” That philosophy touches every part of the company’s operations, from production to packaging, and has spurred strong growth over the past 12 years. A recent spike in sales over the past two years, in fact, has helped Berkshire Blanket become one of the top blanket and throw manufacturers in the nation, in addition to landing the company on this year’s Affiliated Chamber’s Super 60 list, coming in at number 10 for Total Revenue and 20 for Revenue Growth.

Blanket Statements

That’s not to say that business has always been warm and fuzzy for Berkshire Blanket; there have been a few hurdles to clear over the years. Lotuff explained that after that initial Marshall’s sale, the company saw a dip in orders from major stores, and an overall sluggish performance.

The problem was not an intangible one for Lotuff, however. He surmised that the issue was that his product’s intrinsic selling point was being hidden by the vinyl zipper bags in which Berkshire Blankets were stuffed.

“They were sitting on the shelves in those bags, and people couldn’t touch them and feel how soft they are,” he explained. “We removed the bag, and now our blankets are unwrapped, held together in a roll by a bungee cord, a paper wrap around the middle of the blanket, or some other ribbon or strap.”

“A lot of our focus has gone more toward feeling — seeing a good product, and then going a step further and offering images that reflect what it means to have a warm, comfortable product.”

That change, said Lotuff, serves as an excellent example of Berkshire Blanket’s attention to its central mission statement. New packaging may seem like a small shift in a company’s overall direction, but soon after switching to minimal packaging, the company became the number-one selling throw company in the nation.

And Berkshire’s major marketing initiatives continue to revolve around the strength of the product itself and its packaging, said Ellen McNulty, marketing director.

“We had an ad campaign we used two to three years ago in some national publications,” she explained, noting that the ads, which appeared in Martha Stewart Living and the New York Times magazine, among others, can still be seen on the Berkshire Blanket Web site and reflect the idea of simplicity that the company constantly revisits.

Each ad includes only one word describing the product, such as ‘soft,’ ‘inviting,’ or ‘warm,’ and features a Berkshire Blanket in a setting that best depicts each adjective. The ad that describes the blankets as ‘natural,’ for instance, shows a throw bundled to resemble a sushi roll balanced between two chopsticks.

But after 9/11, said McNulty, the company became increasingly focused on packaging rather than print, Web, or television advertising, in order to curb marketing costs and best utilize its advertising dollars.

“We wanted the product to serve as a mini-representation of the company visually,” she said. “A lot of our focus has gone more toward feeling — seeing a good product, and then going a step further and offering images that reflect what it means to have a warm, comfortable product.

“Our imaging shows a lifestyle that is a simple one,” McNulty continued. “One in which there is time to read, to garden, or to just sit quietly on the porch. Those are the things we try to focus on because when you walk into a store, you see a lot of different products, but our packages share the same simple positioning.”

The Soft Sell

That packaging has carried the company through a few new-product introductions in the past year, and both the packaging and new items, as well as a constant focus on the quality and consistency of existing products, Lotuff said, have allowed the company to grow at the rate it has in recent years.

“We also have a flexible sourcing model,” he noted. “We can source materials from China, Taiwan, or Pakistan, for instance, and that flexible outsourcing allows us to grow in a way we could not otherwise.”

That growth has been particularly evident over the past two years. Two years ago, Berkshire Blanket recorded a 45% surge in sales, and for 2005, the company has projected an impressive increase of 100%. It is growth that McNulty said is thanks to a number of variables – among them, the strength of the market and the readiness of stores and consumers alike to welcome new products made from new, synthetic materials.

“The critical thing is that Berkshire is constantly developing new products,” she said, “but that doesn’t always translate into company growth.”

McNulty used Berkshire’s most recent offering, blankets and throws made from a material called Serasoft, to illustrate that point.

“Serasoft hit a new chord for us that we were excited about, but when the products were first unveiled, retailers weren’t ready,” she said. “It’s all about what the market is looking for. When business is strong in our industry, people don’t want to change what is working. What happened, though, was the acrylic business was starting to wane, because the product was not as durable as it used to be, and was not as successful with consumers.

“When acrylics started to leave the market,” McNulty continued, “Serasoft replaced it and brought to customers exactly what they were looking for – a blanket that is warm, easy to care for, and durable.”

And if a blanket meets those criteria, then it in turn meets the internal standards – and reflects the mission of – Berkshire Blanket, Lotuff said. He agreed that the new Serasoft product line is one reason the company has done so well in the past two years, but far from the only reason.

“We just began to evolve,” he said. “We went from polyester fleece blankets to other types of blankets, using sweatshirt material, Berber, T-shirt fabrics… always soft, comfortable fabrics. We are expanding into comforters now. Newness helps spark new growth, but it’s the little things that keep our momentum strong.”

Little things like money-back guarantees and customer service, Lotuff noted. And the company also hasn’t strayed far from the product that started it all.

Berkshire Blanket’s factory outlet store, adjacent to its corporate offices on East Main Street in Ware, offers fleece pillow cases, hats, scarves, vests, and a number of blankets and throws made from both synthetic fabrics like fleece and Serasoft and natural fabrics such as cotton, wool, and silk. But nationwide, in the 4,000 stores Berkshire’s products can be found including Linens and Things, Bed Bath and Beyond, and K-mart and in international locales including Japan, the majority stock throws and blankets very much like Mary Lotuff’s original creation.

And that’s a notion that gives everyone a warm, fuzzy feeling – guaranteed.

Jaclyn Stevenson can be reached at[email protected]

Powerful Arguments

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Sections Supplements
Cape Wind Could Provide Momentum for Clean Energy Source
There is as much wind power potential (900,000 megawatts) off our coasts as the current capacity of all power plants in the United States combined, according to a new report entitled, “A Framework for Offshore Wind Energy Development in the United States” (Framework), sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, and General Electric.

The Framework finds the greatest wind power potential offshore the highly-populated urban coastal areas of the northeast and it recognizes the roles of Cape Wind and the Long Island offshore wind project in creating the momentum to develop offshore wind power in the United States.

Some points from the report:

• “…the United States is getting started with two serious project proposals located off the coasts of Massachusetts and New York. Sustaining and building on this momentum will require leadership and the collective action of all interested parties…”
• “Most of the total potential offshore wind resources exist relatively close to major urban load centers, where high energy costs prevail and where opportunities for wind development on land are limited. This is especially true in the densely populated Northeast, where nearly one-fifth of that national populations lives on less than 2% of the total land area…”
• “Offshore wind energy is also an attractive option for the Northeast because slightly more than half the country’s offshore wind potential is located off the New England and Mid-Atlantic coasts, where water depths generally deepen gradually with distance from shore. This attribute allows for the initial development of offshore wind in relatively shallow waters followed by a transition to deeper waters further for shore as the technology is advanced.”

Jim Gordon, the President of Cape Wind, was pleased to see the Framework’s recognition of the role that offshore wind can play in addressing key national priorities, “The Framework recognizes that offshore wind can meet a significant share of the energy requirements of the Northeast while helping to diversify our energy sources, protect public health and the environment, create jobs, help stabilize energy prices and make us more energy independent,” he said. “Cape Wind will help to catalyze America’s use of offshore wind to become a major supply of energy for the Northeast.”

The Framework study notes the beneficial role offshore wind can play in supplying needed electricity to New England:

“In January, 2004, New England came dangerously close to experiencing a blackout during a severe cold spell as a result of limited natural gas supplies being diverted away from electricity generating plants to meet demands for home heating. Those in charge of managing New England’s electric grid are uncertain how the region will continue to meet peak demand for electricity beyond the year 2006. Offshore wind is the Northeast’s only local renewable energy source with the potential to address the anticipated unmet demand.”

A prior Department of Energy White Paper titled, Natural Gas in the New England Region: Implications for Offshore Wind Generation and Fuel Diversity, noted that, “During the January 14-16, 2004 period of natural gas shortage, the Cape Wind project, if it had been fully constructed and was online, would have made a significant contribution to the power supply and reliability of the regional grid.”

The Framework study also cites the need for offshore wind in the Northeast for energy diversification and energy price stability:

“Conventional energy prices are expected to climb. Energy supply and price volatility are significant risks as well, if recent experience with oil, gas, and coal is any indication. The Northeast is particularly vulnerable because the region has virtually no indigenous supply of natural gas and oil, which are responsible for a large fraction of the region’s base electric load and the majority of its peaking capability. As the Northeast seeks indigenous alternatives to oil and natural gas, offshore wind is the most or a large fraction of the region’s base electric load and the majority of its peaking capability. As the Northeast seeks indigenous alternatives to oil and natural gas, offshore wind is the most promising option.

“Besides its demonstrated cost competitiveness on-shore, wind is an attractive energy option because it is a clean, indigenous, and non-depletable resource, with long-term environmental and public health benefits,” the report continues. “Once a wind plant is built, the cost of energy is known and not affected by fuel market price volatility. This, along with its economic benefits in terms of employment through manufacturing, construction and operational support, makes wind an attractive technology with which to diversify the nation’s power portfolio and help relieve the pressure on natural gas prices.”

What’s more, the Framework study highlights how offshore wind energy development can improve ocean health:

“Earth’s oceans and atmosphere are both in peril. As recent studies document, our oceans face a greater array of problems than ever before in history. In particular, unprecedented concentrations of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxide, and other emissions resulting from the combustion of fossil fuels threaten to alter the composition of the atmosphere and undermine the integrity of both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. An aggressive push for renewable energy production will start us down a path to reducing these environmental and public health threats.”

The Framework study comes on the heels of the passage of the Energy Bill that has important impacts on the development of offshore wind in the United States. In passing the Energy Bill, the Congress and the President conferred to the Minerals Management Service of the Department of Interior the authority to lease submerged federal lands for commercial offshore wind development. The Congress and the President also included in the Energy Bill a policy objective for the Department of the Interior to approve 10,000 megawatts of renewable energy projects on public lands over the next ten years.

“A Framework for Offshore Wind Energy Development in the United States” is available on the Internet at:http://www.mtpc.org/renewableenergy/press/pr_9_30_05_wind.htm

Cape Wind’s proposal to build America’s first offshore wind farm on Horseshoe Shoal would provide three-quarters of the electricity used on Cape Cod and the Islands from clean, renewable energy – reducing this region’s need to import oil, coal and gas. Cape Wind will create new jobs, lower electric costs, contribute to a healthier environment, increase energy independence and establish Massachusetts as a leader in offshore wind power.

Mark Rodgers is the Communications Director for the Cape Wind Project, the first offshore wind park to be built in the United States. It will be built on Horseshoe Shoal, five miles off the Cape Cod shore in Massachusetts. Cape Wind has offices in Yarmouthport and Boston.

Insurance Agencies

By
Uncategorized
Company Phone/Fax   FT Agents/
Employees		  Offices(Locally) Top Local Officer(s)/Web Site  
Novak Charter Oak1500 Main St., Suite 1200, Springfield, MA 01115 (413) 781-6850
(413) 747-0336		 125/175 9 Peter S. Novak, General Agentwww.novakcharteroak.com
Northwestern Mutual Life/The Steffen Agency1351 Main St., Springfield, MA 01103 (413) 748-6000
(413) 788-5796		 50/65 3 Paul J. Steffen, Managing Partnerwww.northwesternmutual.com
TD BankNorth Insurance Agency, Inc.P.O. Box 9040, 2077 Roosevelt Ave., Springfield, MA 01102-9040 (413) 781-5940
(413) 733-7722		 42/75 1 Rick Black, Regional Presidentwww.banknorthinsurance.com
Protector Group Insurance Agency Inc100 Front St., Worcester, MA 01608 (508) 852-8500
(508) 852-8600		 30/95 4 Robert Vaudreuil
www.protectorgroup.com
Blair, Cutting & Smith Insurance Agency25 University Drive, Amherst, MA 01002 (413) 549-4971
(413) 549-4974		 20/56 1 Bill Dowd, President
www.neighborhoodinsurancellc.com
Gaudreau Group Inc. Insurance & Financial ServicesP.O. Box 369, 1984 Boston Road, Wilbraham, MA 01095-0369 (413) 543-3534
(413) 543-4153		 15/16 3 Jules O. Gaudreau Jr., President
www.gaudreaugroup.com
Remillard Insurance Agency79 Lyman St., South Hadley, MA 01075 (413) 538-7862
(413) 538-7179		 15/25 1 Charles Remillard
www.remillardinsurance.com
Field, Eddy & Bulkley IncP.O. Box 2979, 959 Main St., Springfield, MA 01101-2979 (413) 733-3131
(413) 733-3191		 14/45 5 Samuel Hanmer, President
www.fieldeddy.com
Webber & Grinnell Insurance Agency8 North King St., Northampton, MA 01060 (413) 586-0111
(413) 586-6481		 14/25 1 William D. Grinnell
www.webberandgrinnell.com
Phillips Insurance Agency97 Center St., Chicopee, MA 01013 (413) 594-5984
(413) 592-1142		 13/16 1 Joseph M. Phillips
www.phillipsinsurance.com
Amica Mutual Insurance Company330 Whitney Ave., Suite 200, Holyoke, MA 01040 (888) 532-6422
(413) 532-7360		 10/30 1 Daniel C. Heinold; LuAnn Trigo
www.amica.com
Berkshire Bank24 North St., P.O. Box 1308, Pittsfield, MA 01202 (800) 733-5601 9/13 11 Charlie Berkury
www.berkshirebank.com
Canary Blomstrom Insurance Agency Inc868 Springfield St., Agawam, MA 01001 (413) 789-3995
(413) 786-7004		 9/10 1 Richard V. Blomstrom
www.canaryblomstrom.com
Goss & McLain Insurance AgencyP.O. Box 1128, 474 Appleton St., Holyoke, MA 01041-1128 (413) 534-7355
(413) 536-9286		 9/13 1 Deborah Buckley, President/Owner
www.gossmclain.com
Haberman Insurance Group Inc.95 Ashley Ave., West Springfield, MA 01089 (413) 781-7000
(413) 733-9545		 9/30 1 Edward Adamczyk, President
www.habermaninsurance.com
James J. Dowd & Sons Insurance Agency IncP.O. Box 10300, 14 Bobala Road, Holyoke, MA 01041-1900 (413) 538-7444
(413) 536-6020		 9/34 3 Robert Gilbert, President
www.dowd.com
Moulton Insurance Agency Inc.143 West Street, P.O. Box 90, Ware, MA 01082 (413) 967-3327
(413) 967-4607		 9/15 3 Cynthia Moulton St. George, Pres.
www.moultoninsurance.com
Chase, Clarke, Stewart & Fontana Insurance AgencyP.O. Box 9031, 101 State St., Springfield, MA 01102 (413) 788-4531
(413) 731-9234		 8/21 1 Robert Clarke, President
www.chaseins.com
King & Cushman176 King St., Northampton, MA 01061 (413) 584-5610
(413) 584-9322		 8/12 1 Scott King
www.kingcushman.com
First American Insurance Agency Inc.510 Front St., Chicopee, MA 01013 (413) 592-8118
(413) 592-0995		 7/20 1 Edward Murphy, President
www.faiagency.com
Ross Insurance Agency Inc. 150 Lower Westfield Road, Suite 2, Holyoke, MA 01041-0709 413) 536-8380 (413) 536-8386 7/9 1 Maureen Ross O’Connell, President
www.rossinsurance.com
Axia Group 73 Market Place, Springfield, MA 01103 (413) 205-2942 (413) 886-0190 6/13 3 Michael Long, CEO
www.axiagroup.net
Insurance Center of New England 246 Park St., West Springfield, MA 01089 (413) 781-2410 (413) 731-9539 6/31 1 Dean Florian
www.InsuranceCenterNE.com
Nathan Agencies 20 Gatehouse Road, Amherst, MA 01101 (413) 253-5555
(413) 256-8354		 6/19 2 Ron Nathan, President
www.nathanagencies.com

That’s the Plan

By
Jeff Daigneau and AnnMarie Harding
Sections Supplements
Getting that Company Party off the Ground is Big Business for Area Event Coordinators
Jeff Daigneau and AnnMarie Harding

Jeff Daigneau and AnnMarie Harding of Max’s Tavern in Springfield.

Planning end-of-year events is a business unto itself for area
restaurants, party planners, banquet facilities, and others. Not only does it take time, money, and superb management to enter the holiday party arena, it increasingly takes the ability to offer an entirely new and creative set of amenities every year to keep the interest of the corporate set. This year, some area professionals offered their insight into everything it takes to ring in the new year in style

The clinking glasses, constantly swinging kitchen doors, and the bustle of wait staff as they serve entrées, clear dishes and take special orders are all a given at any holiday party.

But when the hors d’oeuvres are the same as last year, or the band’s set list sounds oddly familiar, corporate events held during the winter holidays can get stale faster than the dinner rolls.

This issue, as part of its annual holiday party planner, BusinessWest takes a behind-the-scenes look at the ins and outs of party planning, gleaning some information on the industry from area professionals – event planners, caterers, restaurant owners and managers, and others.

Together, they offer a feel for what their jobs entail, from management to menus, including what it takes to stay on the cutting-edge of the hospitality industry during the season that generates the largest amount of party-goers will be sizing up the party-planning prowess of a given establishment or individual.

For Ralph Santaniello, owner of The Federal in Agawam and his chefs, that might mean putting a holiday twist on their popular ‘spoon hors d’oeuvres.’ Rachel Bombard, catering sales manager for Max’s Tavern in Springfield, has been hard at work finalizing menus for this year’s party along with Max’s executive chef Jeff Daigneau, but is already mulling ideas for next year – things like bus trips, on which party-goers snack on gourmet boxed appetizers as they whiz around town.

For most planners, though, like Joy Roman, president of Positive Planning Inc. based in East Longmeadow, the actual booking of parties and research of current trends in food, drinks, party themes, and other incidentals, began months ago.

Many event planners were already in the thick of drafting specific menus and decorating schemes for a number of holiday gatherings when they spoke to BusinessWest. Roman, in her car with a license plate that reads ‘EVENTS,’ was in fact rushing off to find scores of perfect holiday gifts for guests at various parties, searching for a few that would stand out, while not breaking the bank when bought in bulk.

The breadth of those tasks alone gives a hard glance into the complexity of holiday party planning – but few, according to some of the region’s professionals, realize exactly how much time goes into plotting five hours of festivities in November, December or January.

According to Roman, who specializes in corporate events, event planners working both independently and internally at a restaurant or banquet facility are employed, in short, to take care of all of the “painful details” on the behalf of a client.

“Companies use me in order to facilitate one of their most important events of the year without losing company time,” she said. “There are a lot of logistics involved, from brainstorming to developing a theme or a menu, to arranging appropriate entertainment and working with a facility to get all of this off the ground.

“There are also a lot of intangibles that people don’t always take into account,” she continued. “Event planners have to be detail-oriented, creative, quick-thinking, and incredibly organized. They have to have excellent customer service skills and the ability to forge and maintain relationships with a number of different types of people in different industries.

“It’s my relationships with people that I think have kept me in business for 20 years,” she said. “And all of those skills ultimately factor into what kind of party you put together for your client – a fun, exciting, well-attended event, or a boring old holiday party that feels like a chore.”

The Party in Question

But she said it’s not all just phone calls and E-mails. On the contrary, she said anyone involved in event planning, whether it be an event coordinator, a chef, or a restaurant manager, is called upon more frequently than most to be spot-on when it comes to new, fresh, and creative ideas. She cited one client she has worked with for several years, which contacts Roman early on in the year and charges her with coming up with a theme for the company’s winter warmer.

That theme has to be big and bold and kept an absolute secret from the company’s employees, she explained, and also has to include accompanying decorations, centerpieces, gifts for attendees, music, a themed menu, and, in some cases, actors to pull that theme up into the next stratosphere.

An Academy Awards-themed event, for example, had Roman rolling out a red carpet, interviewing guests as they came through the door, and organizing an awards ceremony, in addition to dinner and drinks.

“Every decision is another stepping stone on the way to the event, so there is constant collaboration between me and the company’s representatives,” she added, noting that event planners are also not at the mercy of a given business to implement a slew of requests without adding their own professional input. “My job is to offer the expertise that makes everyone, including the company representatives who are planning the party, feel like guests at their own event.”

Sometimes that means overseeing the smallest of details – making sure music is being played at a good volume for conversation or giving the eggnog a little stir in passing. Other times, Roman explained, it’s putting years of experience planning events within the corporate set to good use by gently steering guests away from a few holiday party pitfalls.

“Setting an event up in such a way that people aren’t tempted to hover by the same people they sit right next to every day is one thing that’s important,” she said, citing round cocktail tables or serving stations as one way to keep the crowds circulating. “These are parties and times to unwind, but they’re still business parties, and therefore a strong networking component is necessary for these events to be successful.

“And it’s employees at all levels that need to be reminded,” Roman continued. “It’s the people at the top that give the party the ultimate personal touch, and I always mention that. Sometimes the CEO needs a little push toward the door and a reminder to greet his or her employees, not stand in the corner surrounded by a crowd.”

Kicking the Nosh up a Notch

Putting a few finishing touches on a plate of new hors d’oeuvre offerings available at Max’s for the holiday season, Daigneau concurred with Roman that several variables contribute to the success of a corporate holiday party, and the attention to detail and creativity of those working behind the scenes are of the utmost importance.

“It’s all about spotting trends and fulfilling requests to the best of our ability,” Daigneau said. “And everything is moving toward a tailored approach; people are becoming less shy about asking for special orders, special menus, or different types of events, instead of booking a date and assuming that every party has to be the same every year.”

That creates an interesting culinary testing ground each holiday season, Daigneau said, which he can use to gauge the popularity of new appetizers and entrées, or to get a feel for some of the trendy types of cuisine that people are gravitating toward on a given year.

He added that holiday parties also provide unique marketing opportunities – as new menu choices or creative serving methods are rolled out at corporate events, often a buzz is created that generates new business for an establishment.

“Food doesn’t have to be boring to appeal to a large crowd,” Daigneau said. “Whatever anyone can come up with, I’ll do it.”

And a trend toward special requests, Daigneau said, is challenging those in the industry to flex their culinary muscle. He has recently created event menus that include a wide variety of items, including cigar-smoked duck and tender venison, as game has seen a surge in popularity. He noted that he has also filled several requests for vegetarian or even Vegan menu items, to cater to people with food allergies, or to augment a pre-planned drink menu, choosing foods that complement various wines, beers, martinis, or other cocktails.

AnnMarie Harding, special event planner and director of Public Relations at Max’s, added that menus have become the central attraction for most businesses planning their holiday parties, and creative dinners and cocktail parties are being organized this year over a wide range of price points.

“It’s becoming less important to throw a lot of money at a party in order to make it a huge, gala event,” she said, “and more important to get to the heart of the company throwing the party and reflecting its business and their employees. The menu is the biggest part of that; different types of people in different types of industries will ultimately enjoy different types of food. Some people expect a steak waiting for them. Others want to see something they’ve never seen before.”

Bombard agreed, noting that as clients become more comfortable making special requests for their events, they are also paying more attention to the subtle nuances that make an event stand out.

“I think in the past, people wanted a great party, but they didn’t really know how to go about planning one,” she said. “That’s what people who plan events for a living are for, and lately it seems that businesses are more ready to use the skills of event professionals.”

Just as she is keeping one eye on trends for next season as she fine-tunes this year’s events, Bombard said businesses looking to plan a smash gathering should do the same, and it doesn’t have to take an exorbitant amount of money or time to do so with the right approach.

“What I tell people,” she explained, “is to get a magazine and start tearing out pictures of things you really like. Chances are you can have something like it at your party, and the more ideas we have to work with, the easier it is for us to secure great quality food, keep costs down, and stay simple.”

The Early Bird Gets the Wassail

That’s not to say that event planning is a cakewalk for anyone, however. As special orders and tailored menus become the norm, Daigneau added further that work hours in the kitchen and the banquet room rise as well. Just one event could require a 22-hour work day to prepare, organize, and implement, and that’s with preparation beginning up to a week in advance and a staff of up to 20 people.

“And that’s with more than one party going on in one night most of the time, not to mention that the holidays are the busiest time of the year without corporate business,” he said. “But it’s our job to make holiday parties happen. My only advice to businesses of all sizes is to start planning as early as possible.”

That sentiment resonates in the party planning world. Event planning is an interesting study in corporate organization, and those involved firsthand with party planning say those companies that start early with an idea of menu options and event size, time, and place in mind are those who usually leave their event at the end of the night pleased with the outcome. Those who start late are those who leave wishing they’d spent more time preparing.

“Corporate parties require a lot of planning and attention to detail throughout the year,” said Santaniello, who finds a constant challenge in the changing tastes of the public – what dishes were hot last month at a Federal-catered event, either on or off-site, could receive a chilly reception at a function today. “But when it comes to holiday parties, often people forget that they’re competing with every other company planning a party for the same few dates. There are only three weekends in December before Christmas (and Hanukkah begins on Dec. 26), and it’s much harder to get the details buttoned up.”

Santaniello added that a major staff investment is also required to coordinate corporate events, in addition to regular business, during the holidays. Not only does event planning during the winter months require careful organization on the part of the planner and the company staging the party, but also strict management within the business handling the party, so not to overtax employees, overstretch the operating budget, or cause other aspects of the business to suffer.

“We’re already busy at that point,” he said. “It’s very important that our staff knows that it’s going to be hard and there’s going to be a lot to do, but that their role is an important one in getting it all done. Managing time is one of the most important skills we put into play here. We have a great team and everyone is in charge of something – the finances, the menu, the catering … everything has to be in place, or it’s just not going to work.”

With proper management, though, Santaniello said he has seen a party in every room of his restaurant as well as a few off-site events staged without a hitch over the course of one evening.

“That’s a long day, and anything can go wrong,” he said. “The delivery guy could not show up and you’ll run out of chicken. The rental company could send the wrong number of tables and chairs.

“But,” he added, as he placed one of The Federal’s holiday platters on a table – something new this year, a brimming antipasto created in response to several requests for authentic, Italian fare – “if you pay attention to detail, and to what people want, you’ll build a reputation for offering consistent service with the promise that every event will be a little different, every time.”

Jaclyn Stevenson can be reached at[email protected]

Banquet Facilities

By
Uncategorized
Facility Capacity Contact Person Services

The MassMutual Center1277 Main St.,Springfield, MA 01103          (413) 271-3221; Fax: (413) 787-6645

2,237     (ballrooms A,B,&C; five mtg. rooms with 1,367 cap.)

Tabitha Mahoney

Largest function space in Western Mass., overlooking Court Square; weddings, banquets, meetings; floor to ceiling windows; arena;  Boston Culinary Group caterers providing on-site catering for all occasions – common fare to exquisite dining. Web site:www.massmutualcenter.com

Chez Josef            176 Shoemaker Lane, Agawam, MA 01001  (413) 786-0257; Fax: (413) 786-0316

1,800

Jean Allen

Full service; for weddings, books entertainment, photographer, videographer, cake, invitations, limo, bridal shops, flowers, coordinating, and complementary consulting; for business meetings, can locate hotels with shuttle service; overnight accommodations; senior entertainment; holiday parties; bus-tour shows and luncheons; free parking;  premier off-premise catering; grand ballroom; open to the public Mother’s Day, New Year’s Eve. Web site:www.chezjosef.com

The Log Cabin 500 Easthampton Road, Holyoke, MA 01040            (413) 535-5077; Fax: (413) 535-1096

1,000

Barbara Griffin

Wedding or bridal showers; anniversary or engagement parties; bar/bat mitzvahs; business meetings; banquets or holiday parties. Planning, full service,  cuisine; accommodations for 50 to 1,000 guests. Web site:www.thelogcabin.com

Sheraton Springfield Hotel  One Monarch Place, Springfield, MA 01103 (413) 263-2009; Fax: (413) 732-7560

1,000 Grand Ballroom 500

Steve Keegan

Weddings: flowers, Rolls Royce; for business, audio-visual equipment, rear screen projection, lighting, sound, computer presentations, teleconferencing; 18 rooms, three for meetings; high-speed Internet; holiday parties. Web site:www.sheraton-springfield.com

The Delaney House  Country Club Road, Holyoke, MA 01040 (413) 532-1800; Fax: (413) 533-7137

800

Lynn Brunelle

Custom menus and accommodations for large receptions, corporate events, or banquets for up to 260 guests; intimate dinner parties for 10 or more. Two garden terraces for outdoor settings. Groups up to 14 can choose from an international fusion  restaurant menu.  Web site:www.delaney-house.com

The Oaks 1070 Suffield St., Agawam, MA 01001  (413) 786-5500 or (800) 333-6257
Fax: 786-6966

750

Thomas  Sophinos

Full-service banquet facility; three wedding packages to choose from; four gazebos; guaranteed prices, will work within client’s budget; accommodating trade shows, business meetings, company holiday parties, business tours for dinner shows, and much more; we do not charge 18% house or service charge.Web site:www.theoaksinc.com

Yankee Pedlar Inn 1866 Northampton St., Holyoke, MA 01040 (413) 532-9494; Fax: (413) 536-8877

750 250 for weddings

Kimberlee
Clayton-McGrath

Full-service facility; four wedding packages to choose from; ceremony sites, bridal suites, and overnight accommodations; award-winning chef; seven unique rooms for meetings, anniversaries, and other events. Web site:www.yankeepedlar.com

Castle of Knights 1599 Memorial Drive, Chicopee, MA 01020            (413) 532-2000; Fax: (413) 552-3923

700

Scott
Samuelson

Catering and conference facility for business functions and social events. Web site:www.castleofknights.com

Best Western Sovereign Hotel  and Conference Center 1080 Riverdale St.  West Springfield, MA 01089 (413) 781-8750; Fax: (413) 731-5999

In the ballroom:  700 theater-style,  500 banquet-style; smaller rooms  seat 10 to 24

Mariann
Zenitz

The facility hosts a wide range of functions, including meetings and conferences, social events, fundraisers, award banquets, conventions, reunions, and weddings.Web site:www.sovereignhotelcs.com

Basketball Hall of Fame  West Columbus Ave., Springfield, MA 01105 (413) 781-6500; Fax: (413) 781-1939

600 sit-down 1,300 for socials

Joe Hevey

Full-service facility capable of hosting a wide array of events. Facilities include Center Court, which can hold 600 for a sit-down dinner; Max’s Tavern; the MassMutual            Room, a board room for business meetings; a 200-seat theater; a McDonalds for children’s parties; exhibit gallery for banquet functions.  Web site:www.hoophall.com

Marriott Hotel  1500 Main St., Springfield, MA 01115  (413) 781-7111; Fax: (413) 731-6939

500

Linda Mensher

A wide range of services: weddings, business functions, meetings, reunions, conventions; 11 different rooms. Web site:www.marriott.com

Oak Ridge Golf Club 850 South Westfield St., Agawam, MA 01001 (413) 786-5886; Fax: (413) 821-0060

450 for banquets 300 for weddings

Jennifer  Dandurand

Books only one wedding per day; outdoor photo opportunities; gazebo; provides golf outing packages with dinner for business groups. Web site:www.oakridgegc.com

Holiday Inn Holidome & Conf. Center 245 Whiting Farms Road, Holyoke, MA 01040 (413) 534-3311; Fax: (413) 533-8443

425 for banquets
1,000 for socials

Tracie Tarbox

Full-service facility; wedding and conference packages; audio-visual equipment; high-speed Internet access.  Web site:www.hiholyoke.com

Clarion Hotel and Conference Center  1 Atwood Dr., Northampton, MA 01060            (413) 586-3903; Fax: (413) 586-1723

400

Melissa
Vontour

Eight rooms to accommodate smaller meetings and functions; wedding planning       services; audio-visual equipment; company parties; graduation parties; outdoorpavilion; indoor/outdoor pool. Web site:www.hampshirehospitality.com

Chateau Provost 85 Montcalm St., Chicopee, MA 01020 (413) 532-2100; Fax: (413) 536-8371

350

Janice
Mahoney

Audio-visual facilities for business seminars; can book entertainment, invitations, cakes, flowers for weddings; individualizes service for specific needs; baby  grand piano. Web site:www.chateauprovost.com

The Elmcrest Country Club 105 Somerville Road, E. Longmeadow, MA 01028            (413) 525-2186; Fax: (413) 789-4087

350

Pamela
Vadnais

Weddings, showers, dinner dances; family-owned; banquet room  can be split into two smaller rooms for smaller functions rooms with dining facilities. Web site:www.elmcrest.cc

The Knights of Columbus Banquet Hall 460 Granby Road, Chicopee, MA 01020 (413) 598-8621

350

Alexis
Birney

Corporate events, weddings, banquets, showers, funeral collations, light buffet, dinner, breakfasts. Web site:www.KofC69.com

Crestview Country Club 280 Shoemaker Lane, Agawam, MA 01001  (413) 786-2593; Fax: (413) 789-4087

300

Ernest
LaRocca Jr.

Beautiful outdoor panoramic photo opportunities; outdoor ceremonies; only  one event per day; professional culinary and service staff; business meetingrooms with dining facilities. Web site:www.crestviewcc.org

The Ludlow Country Club Tony Lema Drive, Ludlow, MA 01056 (413) 583-8666; Fax: (413) 596-9972

300

Linda
Ghini

Weddings, banquets, special occasions, and other functions.; outside caterers welcome          Web site:www.ludlowcountryclub.com

Park Inn 450 Memorial Drive, Chicopee, MA 01020  (413) 739-7311; Fax: (413) 594-5005

300

Carol
DeGray

Catering; full meeting setup; audio-visual, classroom or theater style; can accommodate different rooms for meetings and meals; high-speed Internet.

The Hampden Country Club 128 Wilbraham Road, Hampden, MA 01036              413) 566-3136; Fax: (413) 566-5304

300

Paula
Dubord

Panoramic views; breakfast, lunch, and dinner; wedding packages;  create-your-own menu option; two bars; dance floor. Web site:www.hampdencountryclub.com

Max’s Catering at the  Basketball Hall of Fame West Columbus Ave., Springfield, MA 01105  (413) 746-6299; Fax: (413) 746-5559

280 500 for socials

Rachel
Bombard

Full-service banquet facilities, corporate and private; will customize events  to fit specific needs; exclusive caterer to the Basketball Hall of Fame.  Web site:www.maxrestaurantgroup.com

School Street Bistro &  Columbia Meeting House 29 School St., Westfield, MA 01085       (413) 562-8700; Fax: (413) 562-8704

250
(400 for socials)

Doreen
Vadnais

The restaurant’s Columbia Meeting House handles a wide variety of events, including corporate functions, weddings, baby and bridal showers, birthdays, bar mitzvahs, and anniversaries; also hosts performances. Web site:www.schoolstreetbistro.com

Union Station            125 A Pleasant St., Northampton, MA 01060 (413) 586-5366; Fax: (413) 586-5359

225

Stephen
Godet

Full-service facility; wedding packages and planning; bridal suite; provides ancillary services and can custom-design menu.  Available for meetings: breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Located in century-old railroad station. Web site:www.unionstationrestaurant.com

Carriage House at the Barney Estate            200 Trafton Road, Springfield, MA 01108  (413) 787-7733; Fax: (413) 787-6770

200

Paula
Lynch

Victorian elegance for weddings, showers, receptions, business meetings, and corporate gatherings. Historic carriage house in Forest Park includes outdoor terrace, gazebo, and tent seating for 200; indoor facilities include Pecousic Villa Banquet Room and meeting rooms for business needs. Web site:www.barneycarriagehouse.com

Hotel Northampton 36 King St., Northampton, MA 01060 (413) 587-8108; Fax: (413) 585-0210

200
(300 for socials)

Erinn
Fitzgerald

Full-service facility, wedding packages; can handle all details including invitations and limo booking.  Audio-visual equipment for business meetings; wireless  Internet; Newly-renovated Grand Ballroom, two additional ballrooms, two boardrooms, two restaurants. Web site:www.hotelnorthampton.com

The Baymont Inn and Suite  Road, Chicopee, MA 01013  (413) 592-9101

150

Lisa
Nai

Business meetings, conferences, social functions, restaurant and lounge, 357 Burnett conference rooms

The Federal 135 Cooper St., Agawam, MA 01001  (413) 789-1267

125

Christina
Presnal  Coffey

Banquet, off-premise catering, spoon hors d’oeuvres, private parties,  business meetings. Web site:www.thefederalrestaurant.com

By
Departments

The following bankruptcy petitions were recently filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Readers should confirm all information with the court.

Alexander, Andrew
Alexander, Maria J.
8 Mercury Court
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/02/05 Ambrose,

Joanne Mary
106 Colonial Village
Amherst, MA 01002
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/13/05

Anderson, Nicole Elaina
491 Bridge Road, # 417
Florence, MA 01062
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/04/05

Antle, Barbara Jean
156 King St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/04/05

Auclair, Ronald D
Auclair, April A
136 Aldrew Ter.
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/08/05

Birk, George W.
Birk, Ethel L.
20 Everett St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/09/05

Bonanno, Christopher M.
1 Belden Court
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/05

Boucher, Desiree A.
7 Washington St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/07/05

Bowler, Richard D.
Bowler, Donna M.J.
48 Kendall St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/08/05

Bryant, Gina B.
17 Pasadena St., Apt. 7
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/06/05

Caldwell, April S.
304 Regency Park Dr.
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/12/05

Carlson, Rosalie
548 Armory St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/12/05

Castro, Alberto M.
80 Pine St.
Florence, MA 01062
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/13/05

Champigny, Patricia A.
208 Edendale St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/05

Cherry, Sonja C
10 Wolcott St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/09/05

Clark, Michael A.
33A Clark St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/09/05

Collier, Chester W.
Collier, Lisa C.
71 Elmwood Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/07/05

Cook, Veronica M.
21 Willard Ave.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/02/05

Cormier, David Joseph
90 Mary Coburn Road
Springfield, MA 01129
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/13/05

Cunningham, Susan J.
22 Eagle St.
Ware, MA 01082
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/05

Dabkowski, John
20 North Lake Ave.
Southwick, MA 01077
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/08/05

Dameworth, Heather Marie
19 Florence Road
Easthampton, MA 01027
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/10/05

Danek, Mark
1035 Central St., Apt 1
Palmer, MA 01069
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/08/05

Daniele, Gennaro T.
162 Birchland Ave.
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/14/05

Davis, Mae Carrie
414 Chestnut St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/09/05

Dearborn, William R.
Dearborn, Barbara J.
23 Amherst Ave. #23
Feeding Hills, MA 01030
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/07/05

Dearden, Lesley
297 Commonwealth Ave.
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/08/05

Dobbins, Chris Jonathan
Dobbins-Woods, Brandie Maureen
7 Campechi St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/02/05

Domingues, Ulises Arnel
52 Patton St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/15/05

Dow, Alexis V.
76 St. Lawrence Ave.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/13/05

Dow, Perry J.
85 Edwards St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/13/05

Dowd, Matthew J.
Dowd, Shelby L.
72 Audubon St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/15/05

FitzGerald, David B.
37 Columbus Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/09/05

Fitzgerald, Kellie A.
624 Main St.
Hampden, MA 01036
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/12/05

Ford, Thomas E.
PO Box 102
Hadley, MA 01035
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/02/05

Fugiel, Corrie Michele
265 Sargeant St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/04/05

Gamelli, Linda L.
44 Elbert Road
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/15/05

Godard, Gregory A.
Godard, Karen A.
71 Forge Pond Road
Granby, MA 01033
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/11/05

Gonzalez, Alfredo
88 Stony Hill Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/05

Gonzalez, Hilda N.
1118 St. James Ave.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/05

Goodreau, Brian R.
68 Michigan St.
Indian Orchard, MA 01151
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/07/05

Goodwin, Derek
P.O. Box 461
Northampton, MA 01061
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/09/05

Graveline, Roland J.
Graveline, Rose
22 Fremont St.
Springfield, MA 01105
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/12/05

Gray, Kathleen A.
97 Almon Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/08/05

Green, Anne
391 Main St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/13/05

Hall, Carol Ann
11 Old Farm Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/09/05

Harris, Wilhamenia
277 Fernbank Road
Springfield, MA 01129
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/06/05

Haseltine, Kerry Liane
23 Berkshire Ave.
Southwick, MA 01077
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/12/05

Hebda, Lynne M
34 South St., Apt. 2
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/09/05

Hernandez, Christine Ann
78 Paul Revere Dr.
Feeding Hills, MA 01030
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/08/05

Hohenberger, Henry Kenneth
202 South St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/13/05

House, Shatarra B.
112 Canon Circle
Springfield, MA 01118
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/02/05

Huynh, Duc Hoang
105 S. Tallyho Dr.
Springfield, MA 01118
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/12/05

Johnson, David S
Johnson, Joan M
73 Barrett St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/09/05

Johnson, Karin M.
15 Horseshoe Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01022
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/05

Jones Callands, Nancy L.
76 Buckingham St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/05

Keeney, Tammy L.
24 Chestnut St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/09/05

Kervian, Edouard J.
43 School St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/05

Koziol, Elizabeth G.
79 Northwest Road
Westhampton, MA 01027
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/05

LaClair, Kim P.
37 Church St.
Ware, MA 01082
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/10/05

Langevin, Steven G.
69 Hanover St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/11/05

Laramee, Kevin D.
130 Lavoie Ave.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/06/05

Lavalle, Susan J.
P.O. Box 774
Ware, MA 01082
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/05

Lavin, Michael P
17 Dana St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/13/05

Lavin, Noreen F
P.O. Box 70576
Springfield, MA 01107
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/13/05

Lemon, MaryAnn C.
610 Old County Road
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/12/05

Leonard, Gary M.
22 Leslie St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/11/05

Leveille, Mark D.
Leveille, Debbi L.
9 Mutter St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/05

Lindsey, Edward
97 Elm St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/08/05

Lubanski, Donna Lee
57 Hill St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/08/05

Maldonado, Haydee
860 Sumner Ave.
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/09/05

Maldonado, Sonia
4 Waterford Circle
Springfield, MA 01129
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/07/05

Melao, Daniel Anthony
82 Frink St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/06/05

Michalak, Anthony F.
Michalak, Carolyn J.
115 Pomeroy Meadow Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/09/05

Motley, Robert Richard
Motley, Lisa Meryem Kayi
61 Columbia St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/13/05

Mulvey, David E.
12 Holyoke St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/12/05

Nagiyeva, Mutallim
Nagiyeva, Anna
7 Manor Court
Springfield, MA 01118
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/09/05

Nemec, Andrew G
9 Belvedere Gardens
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/08/05

Nemec, William G.
Nemec, Carol L.
11 Belvidere Gardens
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/10/05

Nguyen, Hieu Ngoc
109 Sierra Vista Road
Springfield, MA 01129
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/06/05

Nichols, Randy
110 Bondsville Road
Ware, MA 01080
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/12/05

Nunnally, Paul J.
93 Wolcott St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/12/05

O’Brien, Pamela A.
267 Center St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/07/05

O’Connell, Charles M.
5 Center St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/13/05

Ovtchinnikova, Valeria
241 Beacon Circle
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/08/05

Padilla, Glenda Liz
63 Brightwood Ave.
Springfield, MA 01107
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/02/05

Pagan, Eubill
PO Box 3751
Springfield, MA 01101
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/06/05

Paquette, Karen Ann
22 Ambrose St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/10/05

Pastore, Donna M.
40 Sioux Ave.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/15/05

Pastorello, Richard R.
Pastorello, Roberta A.
6 Whippletree Lane
Amherst, MA 01002
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/13/05

Payson, Clifford A.
33 White St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/08/05

Pierce, Dean Howard
18 Shibley Court
Feeding Hills, MA 01030
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/10/05

Pike, Stanley Ronald
159 Ferry St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/09/05

Poehler, Matthew J.
72 Mayher St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/02/05

Politella, Daria K.
33A Clark St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/09/05

Provost, Renee C.
46 Warebrook Village
Ware, MA 01082
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/13/05

Ranson, Yvonne Lavelle
10 Cloran St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/10/05

Raymond, Douglas D.
4 Ross Ave.
Ware, MA 01082
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/07/05

Reardon, Beth
8 Ranger St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/12/05

Richard, Kenneth L.
12 Turkey Hill Road
Westhampton, MA 01027
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/12/05

Rivera, Jose M.
120 Lowell St.
Springfield, MA 01107
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/12/05

Rodrigues, Adam A.
11 Helen Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/05

Rodrigues, Helen
120 Wilson St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/15/05

Rodriguez, Aileen J.
16 Narragansett St.
Springfield, MA 01107
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/08/05

Rodriguez, Juanita
98 Pheasant Hill Dr.
Feeding Hills, MA 01030
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/08/05

Rogalski, Cynthia Marie
2101 Calkins Road
Palmer, MA 01069
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/08/05

Rohde, David Richard
P.O. Box 2682
Amherst, MA 01004
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/12/05

Rosienski, Tod J.
Rosienski, Donna
159 Prospect St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/02/05

Ross, Raeann
515 Montgomery St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/06/05

Rouillard, Roger J.
215 Meadow St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/11/05

Russell, Sara L.
63 Teawaddle Hill Road
Leverett, MA 01054
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/13/05

Sanders, Helene Elike
1 Springfield St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/02/05

Scuderi, Michelle J
47 Hendom Dr.
Feeding Hills, MA 01030
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/09/05

Shaver, Richard W.
Shaver, Holly W.
36 Fruit St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/14/05

Shea, Robert P.
19C Higland Village
Ware, MA 01082
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/03/05

Sheldon, Darlene A.
32 Laurel St.
Springfield, MA 01107
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/15/05

Sheldon, Randy R.
1302 South Main St.
Palmer, MA 01069
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/12/05

Sherman, Thomas E.
26 Goldenrod St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/08/05

Sipe, Patricia L.
80 Pine St.
Florence, MA 01062
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/13/05

Skala, Deborah J.
391 Stony Hill Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/07/05

St. Peter, Donald G.
St. Peter, Dianne M.
246 Kendall St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/13/05

Stenta, Richard P
63 Duclos Dr.
Feeding Hills, MA 01030
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/13/05

Sweeney, Julie Elisabeth
211 M. Sears Rd.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/02/05

Tetreault, Elizabeth A.
57 George Loomis Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/07/05

Thompson, Lisa D
277 North Valley Road
Pelham, MA 01002
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/15/05

Tower, George Robert
Tower, Michele Ann
19 Warebrook Dr.
Ware, MA 01082
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/15/05

Tremblay, Gerard N
199 Poplar St.
Feeding Hills, MA 01030
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/13/05

Turgeon, William Joseph
Turgeon, Joyce Marie
270 Allen St.
Hampden, MA 01036
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/04/05

Veighey, Ruth Beatrice
10 Valley View Court
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/13/05

Veillette, Anne Marie
88 Riverview Terrace Apt.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/13/05

Walczak, Thomas A.
47 Hamilton St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/12/05

Warner, Daniel A.
71A Elm St.
Hatfield, MA 01038
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/12/05

Washington, Michaela G.
81 Brickett St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/15/05

Weber, Roberta M.
40 Root Road
Barre, MA 01005
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/10/05

Wegiel, Mark A.
21 Dwight St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/02/05

White, Pamela Joy
23 1/2 Elm St.
Ware, MA 01082
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/04/05

Wilcox, Ed
ar Horace
135 Westminister St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/14/05

Williams, Ronald R.
50 Castlegate Dr.
Springfield, MA 01129
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/13/05

Williamson, Eddie J.
Williamson, Thelma E.
45 McKnight St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/06/05

Wright, Pennie M.
14 Elsie St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/15/05

Zych, Timothy Richard
340 North Liberty St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/04/05

By
Departments

The following building permits were issued during the month of September 2005.

AMHERST

Amherst Realty Co.
36 Main St.
$15,000 — Install new kitchen grease hood system with hood suppression system

Amherst Tire Center Inc.
292 College St.
$13,300 — Re-roof

EAST LONGMEADOW

Grace & Glory Church
93 Meadowbrook Road
$32,000 — Siding and windows

HOLYOKE

Holyoke Medical Center
262 Old Lyman Road
$23,491 — New lavatories in Skinner building

NORTHAMPTON

Paul H. D’Amour et al
162 North King St.
$65,000 — Demolish stand-alone bank building

Michael B. Gormely
92 Main St.
$5,000 — Erect wall sign – Murduff’s Jewelry

SPRINGFIELD

Brookdale Park Properties
189 Brookdale Dr.
$28,000 — Exterior renovations

John Masler
868-870 Main St.
$35,000 — Create physical therapy office

WEST SPRINGFIELD

Lanere Holdings
208 Ashley Ave.
$50,000 — Renovations

By
Departments

The following is a compilation of recent lawsuits involving area businesses and organizations. These are strictly allegations that have yet to be proven in a court of law. Readers are advised to contact the parties listed, or the court, for more information concerning the individual claims.

NORTHAMPTON DISTRICT COURT

Nishimoto Trading Co. LTD v. House of Teriyaki a/k/a U—One Inc. and Gao Hee Chung
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for goods sold and delivered: $15,754.04
Date Filed: Sept. 2

SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT COURT

Grand Lumber Co. Inc. v. Sunrise Properties Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for materials: $8,348.92
Date Filed: Sept. 14

Normandeau Trucking Inc. v. O’Brien Excavation & Trucking Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for trucking and hauling services: $15,934.80
Date Filed: Sept. 15

U.S. Foodservice Inc. v. ES Enterprises Inc. d/b/a Brass Rail and Debra Casale
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for goods sold and delivered: $3,687.15
Date Filed: Sept. 15

WESTFIELD DISTRICT COURT

Getty Petroleum Marketing Inc. v. Classic Fuel LLC and Gary Kevorkian
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for goods sold and delivered: $7,344.27
Date Filed: Aug. 25

By
Departments

The following Business Certificates and Trade Names were issued or renewed during the month of October 2005.

AGAWAM

Kudlic Brothers
491B Springfield St.
John Kudlic

Perez Handyman Service
1013 Main St.
Margarita Perez

Union Mart
308 Suffield St.
Anjum Khawaja

AMHERST

Bosom Buddies
40 Spaulding St.
Dawn Kennedy

Jonathon Abbott, Esq.
30 Boltwood Walk
Jonathon Abbot

Unit Rental Inc.
408 Northampton Road
Gale French

CHICOPEE

Chick’s Lawn Care
19 Willette St.
Richard Cecchetti Jr.

New Dragon House
480 Burnett Road
Zhie Gao

EAST LONGMEADOW

J.T. Construction
36 Dartmouth St.
John Turowsky

HOLYOKE

America Buses & Trucks
56 Jackson St.
Medin Dominguez

Cuba Supermarket
439 High St.
Siloana Colon

J.O. Auto Repair
75 Clemente St.
Arturo Sanchez

LONGMEADOW

J. Jill LLC
712 Bliss Road
Kerry Brunette

NORTHAMPTON

Evolution, Renovation & Building
32 Elizabeth St.
Jonas LaPointe

The Gutterman
132 Crosspath Road
Robert Messier Sr.

SOUTH HADLEY

Common Cuts
470 Newton St.
Deborah Blaney

SPRINGFIELD

Alan Epstein Photography & Digital
50 Ingersoll Grove
Alan Epstein

Bryan’s Roofing
39 Gardens Dr.
Bryan Trombley

Design Plus
1140 Main St.
Yevgenig Norkin

The Firm
490 Main St. William McCarthy

Latin Mark
1655 Main St.
Rene Romaro

NLB Appraisal Services
36 Sunapee St.
Chris Bertelli

R & B Auto
380 Bay St.
Richard Ricketts

Stunin Records
1655 Main St.
Virgen Lopes

Wilson’s Leather
1655 Boston Road
Wilson’s Leather of MA Inc.

WEST SPRINGFIELD

Brothers Covers
239 Western Ave.
Kenneth LaBelle

Convenience Mart
7 Chester St.
Muhammad Sabir

Kia M. Brokos, L.M.T.
425 Union St.
Kia Marie Brokos

The Kung Fu Academy 1
869 Memorial Ave.
Mark Ostrander

WESTFIELD

Be Well Massage
30 Court St.
Shan Marie Jackson

Kitchen Resources
18 Sabrina Brook Lane
Stephanie Hoey

V.P.I. Construction
251 Valley View Dr.
Peter Nedeoglo

By
Departments

The following business incorporations were recorded in Hampden Hampshire counties, and are the latest available. They are listed by community.

AMHERST

Youth Action International Inc., 58 Tracy Circle, Amherst 01002. Cherrine Smith, 40 Abbey Road, Newark, DE 19702. Jackie Pateguana, 58 Tracy Circle, Amherst 01002. (Nonprofit) To develop programs to alleviate the suffering of children affected by war and by living under difficult circumstances, etc.

BONDSVILLE

Source Two Inc., 7 Third St., Bondsville 01009. Michael W. Shields Jr., 11 Shelby Lane, East Longmeadow 010128. Custom design engineering and manufacturing of automation equipment.

EAST LONGMEADOW

Care Biopharma Inc., 146 Tanglewood Dr., East Longmeadow 01028. Penelope Johnson, same. To provide staffing, clinical research and consulting services to entities in the biopharmaceutical industry.

GRANBY

Seasonal Bids Inc., 417 East State St., Granby 01033. Bruce A. Peltier, same. To broker the bidding, management and implementation of landscaping jobs between landscapers and property management.

HADLEY

Sugarloaf Mountain Athletic Club Inc., 277 Bay Road, Hadley 01035. Donna Utakis, 71 Blue Hills Road, Amherst 01002. (Nonprofit) To foster amateur sports competition including promoting road racing and/or running related events, etc.

NORTHAMPTON

Accents ‘N Art Inc., 351 Pleasant St., Ste. B321, Northampton 01060. Elizabeth A. Monaghan, 24 Mutter St., Easthampton 01027. Manufacturing home accents and artwork.

Easthampton Trading Company Inc., 222 North King St., Northampton 01060. Thomas R. Broadhurst, 476 East St., Easthampton 01027. Broker/dealer of automobiles.

SPRINGFIELD

Crystal Brook Landscape Construction Inc., 52 Hardy St., Springfield 01129. Justin Haggerty, same. To provide landscape design, construction, etc.

WEST SPRINGFIELD

Spruce Facilities Management Inc., 43 Witch Path #1, W. Springfield 01089. Katherine M. Zimmerman, same. Janitorial service.

By
Departments

The Springfield-based accounting firm Downey, Sweeney, Fitzgerald & Co., P.C., announced that Janelle A. Davenport has joined the firm as a Staff Accountant.

•••••

Nicholas DeCristofaro has been named the Director of Commercial Ventures and Intellectual Property at UMass Amherst. He has served in a variety of research, technology and business leadership roles throughout his industrial career, with a primary focus on new-product development.

•••••

Bay Path College in Longmeadow announced the following:
• Sheila J. Foley has joined the full-time faculty as Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice. An adjunct professor at Bay Path for three years, she earned B.S. and M.S. degrees in criminal justice from Westfield State College and has more than 20 years experience in the field.
• June Sullivan has joined the faculty as Professor of Law and Chair of Bay Path’s Legal Studies Program.

•••••

Gene Talsky has been named Director, Small Business Development, for the Valley Community Development Corp. in Northampton. He will help low-and moderate- income and minority entrepreneurs launch their own businesses. He will also work with existing small business owners, helping them to grow their ventures. Services are available to those who live or work in Northampton or Easthampton.

•••••

The Springfield Museums announced the following:
• Michael F. Golden, President and Chief Executive Officer of Smith & Wesson Holding Corp., has been named a Corporator;
• Michael Matty, Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer at St. Germain Investment Management, has been named a Corporator, and
• Peter A. Picknelly, President of Peter Pan Bus Lines Inc., has been named a Corporator.
Golden, Matty and Picknelly will serve three-year terms.
• Re-elected to the Springfield Museums’ Board for three-year terms were Richard B. Collins, David W. Glidden, Noel R. Leary, Elsie Smith, and J. Michael Wallace, Esq.
• The annual corporators meeting was followed by the organizational meeting of the Board of Trustees at which the following officers were elected for one-year terms: J. Michael Wallace, Esq., Chairman; John M. O’Brien, III, CPA, Treasurer; Richard B. Collins, Assistant Treasurer; Frances M. Gagnon, Clerk, and David Starr, Assistant Clerk.

•••••

Francis X. McCarthy has been named to the Springfield financial services practice of Guardian Life Insurance Co. of America.

• Frank Bullard has joined the Wilbraham office, and
• Robert W. Schwaber has joined the Westfield office.

Sarah Jewell has been named General Manager of the new Homewood Suites by Hilton in Holyoke. The 114-room hotel, owned by Buffalo Lodging Associates, is scheduled to open in early 2006.

•••••

Attorney Caroline E. Nicolai of Nicolai Law Group in Springfield, recently published an article in the Syracuse Journal of International Law and Commerce on the treatment of women under Islamic law. She is a 2004 graduate of the Syracuse University School of Law.

•••••

Michael Behaylo has joined Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage of New England as a Sales Associate in the Longmeadow office.

•••••

Kurt MacDonald has been named National Sales Manager of Janlynn Corp. in Chicopee.

•••••

American International College in Springfield announced the following:
• Judith Syner, Registrar, has been named Executive Director of Student Financial Services;
• Pauline Mortenson has been named Director of Transfer and International Admissions, and
• Denise Carmody has been named Budget Director and will continue to serve as Assistant Comptroller.

•••••

Sanjay Kumar, M.D., joined the staff of Johnson Memorial Hospital and is in practice with Enfield Orthopedics of Enfield.

•••••

Banana Publishing Inc. publisher of the Border Busters Yellow Pages community directory, announced the following:
• Christine Cox has joined the staff as Art Director;
• Bruce Beard was recently named Sales Manager;
• Samuel O’Connor, Ronny Sinn, Mark Villano, Michael Burnham, and Lindsey Palumb have joined the sales staff.

•••••

Berkshire Bank announced the following:
• Shelley K. Guyette has been named Assistant Vice President for Human Resources, and
• Ronald H. Spring has been named Assistant Vice President for Facilities and Purchasing.

An Energetic Course

By
Opinion
At the Region’s Colleges
The headband read ‘president.’
That was the only clue most people had that the man helping students unload refrigerators and stereo systems on moving-in day at American International College a few weeks ago was none other than the institution’s recently named chief executive — Vincent Maniaci.

He told the local press that his box-lifting escapades were his way of telling students and their parents that the school was going to be there for them. We can see even more symbolism in his desire to break a sweat and get his hands dirty.

Indeed, we count Maniaci among a host of new or relatively new college presidents that are bringing a sense of energy to their schools, and thus to the larger economic development engine that is the region’s higher education system.

The Valley’s seats of higher learning have always been an important cog in the development of the region’s workforce. But an injection of new blood at several area institutions fosters hopes for continued growth of these schools and more and greater relationship-building with the business community that will benefit the entire region.

In other words, we should look forward to more of the imagination and inspiration we have seen at Bay Path College, which has flourished under the leadership of President Carol Leary. The institution has added several degree programs, introduced a women’s leadership conference, and injected a broad focus on innovation and entrepreneurship, among other initiatives.

And we should also see more of the leadership and creative risk-taking that we have witnessed at Springfield Technical Community College, which, under the leadership of former President Andrew Scibelli, created a technology park and enterprise center that are currently home to dozens of businesses employing nearly 1,000 people.
A quick look around the region reveals some of the reasons for the optimism:

  • At STCC, there are new examples of innovation and community involvement, including the recent relocation of the municipal police academy to the historic campus, as well as talks about creation of a high school, geared specifically toward students interested in math and science, at the campus;
  • At Elms College, another new president with a strong track record for community involvement and raising a school’s profile, is at the helm. Jim Mullen comes to the Chicopee institution from the University of North Carolina at Ashville, where he succeeded in both boosting enrollment and involving students and faculty in the community. He has already pledged to do the same at The Elms.
  • At Holyoke Community College, work is nearing completion on the Kittredge Business Center, a facility that will add a new and intriguing layer to the work currently being done at STCC, Bay Path, UMass, and other schools to foster entrepreneurship and help business owners clear the many hurdles they face.

There are other signs of progress; Springfield College has launched an ambitious, $40 million building program, and Westfield State College, with its new athletic and convocation center, is looking to forge new partnerships with the residents and businesses of that city. Meanwhile, Western New England College, which has also expanded its campus, recently opened a facility called the Law and Business Center for Advancing Entrepreneurship. It will utilize the talents of law and business students, and their faculty, to help fledgling entrepreneurs with matters ranging from trademarks to business plans.

At UMass, perhaps the biggest economic engine in the Pioneer Valley, president Jack Wilson and Chancellor David Lombardi are aggressively forwarding plans to double the amount of research grants awarded the university. And with those research dollars comes the promise of new businesses — and jobs.

Maniaci may have the sternest challenge — and greatest opportunity — of all the area’s college presidents. His school, directed by Harry Courniotes for nearly four decades, finds itself in need of a spark and in search of niche it can exploit. Meanwhile, it has to overcome a budget deficit.

Its new president brings energy — and a strong back — to his assignment, and we’re confident that AIC, with help from area graduates and business leaders, can return to prominence.

Make Investments in a Healthy Community

By
Opinion
Neal Lane, an advisor to President Bill Clinton, once commented in a speech, “It is only by building a sense of teamwork and community that we can overcome the unexpected detours and hurdles we encounter on our own journey and gain satisfaction that ought to derive from such achievements. Those organizations that prepare themselves for the unexpected and help to build a sense of community will become the leaders of the 21st century.”

The United Way is one of those organizations.
Recently, our community has responded well to the unexpected. More importantly, a strong sense of community has emerged from all the efforts to assist the Hurricane Katrina victims. We are proud of our Red Cross chapters, our Salvation Army Corp., and the many other organizations and individuals that responded so passionately to this human crisis.

A crisis of this magnitude captures everyone’s attention, as it should. But it’s important to remember that the same organizations that responded so well to Katrina are working hard every day in our community, alleviating the individual crises we all have in our lives. United Way of Pioneer Valley is helping to lead that network of agencies and programs. Many of those agencies depend on the success of our annual fund drive to run the programs that serve our community.

Our mission has always been to strengthen our community by empowering every individual. United Way’s goal is to create a community where all of our citizens are valued; where diversity becomes a strength; where the voiceless are heard; where children have opportunities to grow into productive, responsible adults; where we can all live in a community that is safe.

A healthy community requires a healthy partnership between the United Way and its 57 partner agencies and we’re proud to foster that partnership every day. We want people to know that our service area may include 23 cities and towns, but we serve every citizen that reaches out for help.

Our United Way campaign kicked off on Sept. 9 with a goal of $6.5 million. We know this is not nearly enough to meet all the pressing needs that our community faces. Still, together we have a responsibility to provide the financial resources necessary to create a strong, healthy, and secure community in order to be able to respond to the concerns and needs of our larger community.

Your individual and corporate gifts to the United Way campaign are the single best investments you can make toward reaching the goal of a healthy community.

United Way will provide you, the donor, the accountability and the assessment of how your investment is working. It can also provide the information you need to make prudent decisions about how to distribute your financial resources. But most importantly, this campaign can and will help unite us in a worthy cause; the wellbeing of our community and our children’s community.

The Irene E. and George A. Davis Foundation has generously offered to match every new and increased leadership donation of $1,000 or more to the annual campaign. Please help us reach our goal by doubling your gift this year through this wonderful matching grant.

What we do know is that we must throw aside everything that is dull, motionless, and backward looking. Together, as partners, we need to see and embrace new ways and new solutions to our needs and problems. We need to understand that, if we do business today as we did yesterday, we are bound to lose; if we do business tomorrow as we do today, we will surely be doomed.

If you own or manage a local business that does not participate in United Way, we hope you will consider joining our community of business partners. It will strengthen our community and your business. We can’t thank you enough for your generous support in past years and hope that you will join us in a successful campaign this year.-

Joel Weiss is president & CEO of United Way of Pioneer Valley; (413) 737-2691.

Brandnew 2005

By
John Bidwell,
Features
Symposium Is All About the Message
John Bidwell,

John Bidwell,president of Bidwell ID, said ‘branding’is an oft-used term that he hopes to better define for the region·s business professionals.

John Bidwell has always incorporated an educational component into his work.
Indeed, Bidwell, founder and president of Florence-based Bidwell ID, has employed a number of means to educate clients and prospective clients about the many aspects of marketing and brand-building. Topics covered by so-called white papers downloadable from his Web site include everything from logos to copyrights; capital campaigns to naming a company.

“I find that an educated client or potential client turns out to be a better client,” said Bidwell, who said his white papers are what he considers an objective approach to answering common questions about the often-complex world of branding.

Recently, he sought to take this educational component to a higher plane. This was the genesis of a symposium, created in conjunction with the Mass. Small Business Development Center Network, to be staged Nov. 1 at the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst. The museum will serve as not only the site, but also one of five case studies — in this instance, a not-for-profit group — that will, according to event planners, help attendees gain an appreciation for the nuances of marketing.

As Bidwell explained to BusinessWest, not-for-profits have seen traditional sources of funding — foundation grants and allocations from local, state, and federal organizations — dwindle, leaving them under increasing pressure to raise more revenue. One key to this, of course, is marketing.

“This is a time of great change for not-for-profits; they have to reach out and do a lot more development work than ever before,” he explained. “Part of that development work is branding, and this is something that many of these organizations never had to look at before. They have to look at who they are and how they define themselves in a way that wasn’t an issue only a few years ago.”

A similar focus will be put on other industry sectors and specific marketing challenges though case studies involving Amherst College (education); the Amherst Nursing Home (health care); Banana Publishing (a small, relatively new business); and Cooley Dickinson Hospital’s Way Cooley brand of coffee (a new product).

The purpose of the symposium, said Bidwell, is to take what many business owners consider a buzz word — branding — and give it some workable definitions that they can apply to their companies and agencies.

Getting the Word Out

Bidwell told BusinessWest that, originally, the letters I and D incorporated into his company’s name stood for illustration and design.

“I’ve always been into graphics and design,” he said, adding that he did work for a number of newspapers and magazines earlier in his career. Later, those letters stood for identity and design, he said, and today, they’re used to convey the fact that the six-year-old company specializes in helping clients create and shape an identity, or ID.

Bidwell, who studied Theology at McGill University and did a stint for the Peace Corps in Africa before moving into the marketing field, has done such ‘identity’ work for clients ranging from Mount Holyoke College to the National Yiddish Book Center, to DramaWorks, the Northampton-based company that uses theater to help companies understand workforce issues.

These are among the ‘educated’ clients he described, noting that the more individual business owners know and truly understand about the need for branding and the many components of that assignment — the better he will be able to partner with them to achieve positive results.

This fall’s symposium (for information, visit www.brandnew2005.com) was designed to offer working examples of how branding works — and how it can work better, said Bidwell, noting that the program will include several aspects.

There will be presentations on the branding strategies for each company or product, he explained, and also questions from a panel of marketing experts and then more questions from the audience.

The panel of experts will include Lee Phenner, vice president of Hill Holiday Design in Boston, Cheri Cross, partner and communications professional with Slate Roof Studio in Northampton, and Rick DeBonis, senior vice president and director of Marketing for Hampden Bank. As for the audience, Bidwell said he expects it to include everything from marketing and public relations professionals to business owners.

The case studies were chosen, he said, to spotlight the different kinds of challenges faced by various industry sectors and types of businesses. As he mentioned, non-profit groups like the Eric Carle museum are under mounting pressure to reach broader audiences, and thus boost revenue.

“A lot of not-for-profits are taking more interest in branding because they’re being forced to,” he explained. “Many of them are struggling to survive and they’re having to address development and branding issues.”

Springfield-based Banana Publishing, which has created cross-border telephone books, including one for Longmeadow and Enfield, Conn., was chosen to highlight the many challenges faced by emerging small companies, said Bidwell. He told BusinessWest that this case involves both a new business and a new product, and that branding efforts must be designed to raise awareness for both.

Amherst College, meanwhile, was selected to focus attention on higher education and its unique issues, he said. The discussion will likely focus on whether such a well-known institution needs to market itself — and how it goes about that mission.

Cooley Dickinson’s Way Cooley Coffee was chosen to spotlight the branding of a new product, said Bidwell, noting that the hospital began to brew its own brand and use proceeds to help bring health care services to those who are uninsured or underinsured. That talk is expected to focus on how the hospital is getting word out about its coffee, and how effective these efforts have been at building awareness.

“These are all successful ventures,” Bidwell said of the case studies he’s assembled. “What we want to do at this symposium is examine the various ways that effective branding contributed to their success.”

Name of the Game

Bidwell said he expects some business owners to attend not because they know what branding is and why it is important — but because they don’t.

“To many people, this is just a buzz word and they don’t really know what it means,” he said. “Some people thinking branding is just a new name for marketing. I happen to think it’s goes beyond that, but that’s a matter for discussion.”

There will be many of those at the symposium, which, if it is as successful as Bidwell believes it will be, could be the first of many.

As he said, educated clients ultimately become better clients.

George O’Brien can be reached at[email protected]

Dorothy Varon

By
Dorothy Varon
Sections Supplements
Making A Case for an Effective Career Change
Dorothy Varon

Dorothy Varon

Dorothy Varon says that when one makes a career change, that individual tends to feel older and younger at the same time.

“It’s a paradox; many of your new colleagues are on their first career, so they would be younger, and sometimes much younger, than you,” she told BusinessWest, in reference to the first part of that equation. “At the same time, though, you feel energized by the change, so you feel younger.”

Varon experienced both phenomena as she transitioned from work in the health insurance field and later as a consultant within that industry to a career in law that has seen her move from private practice to the attorney general’s office to the Springfield firm Robinson Donovan. She’s also transitioned from New York City to Springfield, and there are no regrets about that decision.

Since moving to Western Mass. and entering the legal community, Varon has encountered many colleagues younger than her — she didn’t graduate from WNEC Law until she was 43 and didn’t arrive at Robinson Donovan until she was 48 — but she’s also witnessed that burst of adrenaline she described.

“There is a learning curve to be a lawyer that only another lawyer would understand.”

“You are energized when you start something new,” she said. “It doesn’t feel like the same old thing, day in and day out. You’re doing something new — and you’re learning.”

At Robinson Donovan, Varon has developed a diverse practice in civil litigation and appellate cases, as well a growing volume of work for area non-profit agencies. Her efforts recently earned her designation as an ‘Up and Coming Lawyer’ from Mass. Lawyers Weekly, in the category of individuals who have been members of the Bar for 10 years or less.

‘Up and Coming’ is not a phrase usually applied to professionals 53 years of age, but, in this case, Varon believes it is appropriate.

The Dorothy Varon File

Education:Western New England College, J.D., 1995; City College of New York, B.S., Psychology and Pre-med, 1974
Current Position:Associate with the Springfield firm Robinson Donovan
Areas of Practice:Civil Litigation
Professional and Community Activities:Board member, Women’s Bar Assoc. and Women’s Bar Foundation; Board of Directors, Sunnyside Child Care Center at Smith College; former member of the Board of Directors of All Out Adventures

“I’ve had some good success in recent years, and I’m going to be practicing for many years to come,” she said, noting that she recently adopted a young boy from Cambodia. “I have to.”

Transitioning to a new career has its rewards, as well as its challenges, especially when that new career is in law, said Varon, who said her personal experience could serve as inspiration to those who have considered changing their professional course, but then thought that advancing years would or should prohibit them from doing so.

“I never thought I was too old to do this — that never entered my brain,” she said. “I don’t think you’re ever too old to do anything, with the possible exception of me being a ballet dancer.

“If you use the brains you were given, and work hard, you can do pretty much anything.”

Changing Course — and Courses

When asked if law school is any more challenging for someone in their 40s than for individuals much younger, Varon offered a telling laugh.

“Obviously, law school is difficult by its very nature,” she said, “but I remember that first day of classes; they described what our typical day would be, and I kept waiting to hear what would happen after our three classes. I thought, ‘that’s it?’

“When you’ve worked for 20 years, going to school, even if it’s law school, as grueling as it is, is not the same as putting in 9-, 10-, or 12-hour days,” she continued. “So I thought it was easier in that regard, but I wasn’t trying to raise a family at the same time, either. Some of the older students had many different responsibilities.”

Indeed, Varon stressed that neither her years at WNEC, nor her transition into the legal profession were a snap. She told BusinessWest that the route she took to that classroom was long and circuitous.

“There is a learning curve to be a lawyer that is one that only another lawyer would understand,” she said of her career shift. “You find out you have a lot to learn; it’s exhilarating, but, at the same time, scary.

“It’s shocking how much you need to learn after you get out of law school,” she continued. “You say to yourself, ‘I just passed the bar exam — or two bar exams — and I must know a lot.’ But when you get out, you realize you have a lot to learn.”

Varon actually majored in Psychology and Pre-Med at City College of New York, and then went to Paris to study medicine. She knew, however, that a medical career was not in the cards. “I grow faint at the sight of blood.”

She eventually went to work for Mercer Computer Systems in New York, where she consulted on- and off-site for major health insurance companies. She also opened new consulting markets within the health insurance industry and recruited consultants for those markets.

In 1989, she opened her firm, JAHM Consulting (the name was drawn from the first initials of family members), which provided consulting and management services to the health insurance industry in the areas of system design, project management, indemnity, and managed care product design and development.

Her seven-year stint as consultant and entrepreneur were marked by financial success and professional growth, she said, but changes to the health insurance and her private life prompted her to seek a new career path.

“When the health insurance programs became more managed care oriented, I became less interested in staying in that business,” she said. “I didn’t particularly like the direction; meanwhile, I had always liked the legal aspects of what I was doing, and my dad was an attorney for many years.

“At that point in my life, I was examining where I wanted to be 15 or 20 years down to the road,” she continued. “Do I want to be in this business or some other business? I always wanted to be a lawyer, so I thought this was the time to do it.”

Varon said her financial success from her years at the helm of JAHM put her in the enviable position of being able to essentially take three years off and focus exclusively on school. And she took full advantage of that opportunity.

“I was very fortunate to be able to do it the way I did it,” said Varon, who ranked third in a class of 230. “I would have stayed a student forever if the economics permitted it — which they didn’t, of course.”

Upon graduating from WNEC, Varon worked briefly, and on a part-time basis, for the Springfield firm Cohen Rosenthal, P.C., where she had clerked while attending law school. Part-time work was desired because her father had taken ill, and she needed flexibility in her schedule. She found it, and also a unique chance to blend her wide range of skills in a position with the Northampton publishing company Kitchen Sink Press. There, she served as director of Legal Affairs and Human Resources, a role that saw her take on everything from negotiating license agreements to handling compensation and benefits for employees.

After a short stint in private practice, Varon served as judicial law clerk for Mass. Appeals Court Judge Elizabeth Porada, and, later, became an assistant attorney general in the Springfield-based Western Mass. Division. She came to Robinson Donovan in 2001, and has specialized in plaintiffs’ and civil defense litigation.

Like her mostly younger colleagues, Varon has the twin challenges of growing a legal practice and balancing work and her life outside it. Her adopted son keeps her busy, as does her work with the Women’s Bar Association and other groups, as well as pro bono work for some of the region’s starving artists and other constituencies.
She recently helped stage a program organized by the Women’s Bar about the complex track to a judgeship.

“We wanted to help them understand the process, or de-mystify it, if you will,” she explained. “This means both the application process, and the process of deciding if this is what you want to do, and if you can do it.”

When asked if that was one of her ambitions, she hedged, and said, “I don’t know, I’m still pretty new in this career.”

Bronx Cheer

Summing up her career to date — as well as what may happen in the future — Varon told BusinessWest, “life has a way of running the show.”

It does, and it has taken her on an intriguing journey, from successful entrepreneur to the courtroom; from the Bronx to Northampton. Many things have changed, but some things haven’t — she’s still a die hard Yankees fan.

And she’s in a new career, where she feels older and younger at the same time.

George O’Brien can be reached at[email protected]

Am I Meant to Mentor?

By
Sections Supplements
Five Attributes of Best-in-class Mentors
As a young consultant I really thought I had it all together. I was getting great ratings, great raises, and wonderful accolades from clients. Because I (in my own mind) thought I was such hot stuff, I was not active in seeking out advice from more experienced colleagues. After all, what could they teach me?

As I matured from an inexperienced hot-shot to an experienced manager, I developed a much stronger appreciation for the wisdom my more experienced colleagues could impart. This appreciation didn’t happen naturally; I had to get my butt chewed off a bunch of times to realize that a wiser and more experienced colleague could help me get through the tough times and learn from my mistakes. I also needed a wiser colleague to hold a mirror up to my face to help me see my weaknesses. I needed (and still need) a mentor to help me be more effective as a leader.

Whether for personal or professional reasons, having a mentor to turn to for advice and counsel is a very effective means of transforming knowledge into wisdom. Before I go any further, let’s get a definition of wisdom in place:

Knowledge + Experience = Wisdom

In a mentoring relationship, a mentoree, or person being mentored, typically brings a lot of knowledge to the table. The mentoree has learned the fundamentals of how to do his or her job and can probably do the basics well. The mentor, or the person doing the mentoring, provides experience. The mentor provides perspective on what to do when things aren’t optimal or when difficult situations crop up. When the experience from the mentor is transferred to the mentoree, it accelerates the wisdom building process because the mentoree now doesn’t have to learn solely through his or her own mistakes. The mentoree is able to learn from a combination of his own mistakes and the mentor’s advice.
For mentoring relationships to work well, I’ve found several items to be very important:

The mentor should not have a direct reporting relationship with the mentoree. The mentoree can feel free to speak about issues which may be plaguing him without fear of retribution from a boss;

Whether for personal or professional reasons, having a mentor to turn to for advice and counsel is a very effective means of transforming knowledge into wisdom.

The mentor must want to be a mentor. Mentoring is an incredibly important responsibility that is likely over and above any other existing responsibilities. If the leader doesn’t want to be a mentor, she is going to view the time spent mentoring as a nuisance.

The mentoree should have a desire for a mentor. The mentoree needs to see the value in the relationship and have a desire to benefit from the relationship, otherwise both parties will just go through the motions until their time is over.
Be a best-in-class mentor by zeroing in on these five attributes:
Be available for your mentoree: You need to define how much time you are able to spend in a mentoring relationship and commit the time to do it. If you’re just too busy to mentor, don’t do it;

Make listening a priority: A mentor who listens will understand the struggles and issues a mentoree experiences and can better help him with a solution. The best listening mentor assumes little when talking with the mentoree; she lets the mentoree communicate his struggles and issues, then targets what is most important. Just as important, a listening mentor builds trust with the mentoree;
Keep confidences: Any particulars about the mentoring relationship are between the mentor and the mentoree, period. As a mentor, assume that everything about the relationship is off limits for others and ensure that if anything about the relationship is found out it is because the mentoree has divulged it, not you as the mentor;

Tell it straight: Mentoring relationships where the mentor and mentoree can have direct and constructive discussions are highly beneficial to the mentoree’s growth. Telling it straight means discussions are constructive, respectful, and specific. Just remember to build trust in the relationship first by being a good listener and keeping confidences;

Have the courage to stop if the relationship isn’t working: If you’re having a difficult time connecting on common interests, if meetings with the mentoree feel like more of an obligation versus something you look forward to, or if mentorees don’t pursue meeting, it may be time to call it quits. Some relationships just aren’t meant to be, so accept it and move on. Do look at the reasons the relationship didn’t work out and look for patterns you as a mentor should address that maybe you can work on with your mentor.

Put these five attributes into action to help you be a best-in-class mentor. Do this well and you give something priceless to your mentoree: wisdom.

Lonnie Pacelli has over 20 years experience at both Accenture and Microsoft, is the creator of Leading on the Edge™ Action Guides (www.leadingonedge.com) and is the author of The Project Management Advisor – 18 Major Project Screw-Ups and How to Cut them off at the Pass;www.lonniepacelli.com.

A Hometown Touch

By
Sections Supplements
Country Bank for Savings Thinks Big in A Region of Small Towns
As a community-focused business, Country Bank for Savings gives tens of thousands of dollars annually to local institutions.

But Paul Scully, the Ware-based bank’s president and CEO, sees a gift of a paper shredder as equally reflective of the bank’s mission. The used shredder was donated to a local senior center, where it sees heavy use from individuals concerned about privacy and identity theft.

“It doesn’t always take thousands of dollars to improve the quality of life for people,” said Scully, who recently succeeded longtime president and CEO John MacNeish. It’s a lesson for all community banks: while they may seem tiny in a time of massive bank mergers, Scully prefers to focus on what sets them apart – the personal touch.
“Bank products and services don’t differ that much, so every bank relies on its reputation,” he said. “We’re in a service business, and that’s what we sell. It’s all about how someone feels when they walk though our doors, and then after they leave. We greet our customers like we know them – because we do.”

The challenge is to retain that personal service during a time of growth; Country Bank has recently added branches in Ludlow and Charlton, bringing its total to 13 in 10 different towns. But don’t expect to see offices in Springfield or Worcester anytime soon.

“We will remain in these types of markets,” Scully said, referring to smaller communities such as Ware, Belchertown, and Palmer, many of which are fast-growing. “The population might vary, but they’re all nice, rural towns, and that’s where I see us staying.”

“It doesn’t always take thousands of dollars to improve the quality of life for people.”

Community Connections

The Country Bank name is only 24 years old, but the institution has been around since 1850, when it was known as Ware Savings Bank. It took on its current name after a 1981 merger with Palmer Savings Bank; another merger with Leicester Savings Bank nine years ago further increased the bank’s holdings and its reach.

From the time of the name change, Scully said, it has been important to communicate a sense of community ties. That’s why the name of each branch reflects its hometown: Country Bank of Ludlow, Country Bank of Palmer, etc. “I think that resonates with people,” he said.

“Our home is your home,” said Pattianne Mitchell, vice president of marketing, echoing one of the bank’s slogans. “The name reflects the pride we take in that community.”

She added that Country’s reputation as a high-quality service bank is a plus when entering new markets.

“People come in and say, ‘we’ve heard good things about you,’” Mitchell told BusinessWest. “That follows us. It’s something you don’t hear in the mega-banks. But people know that we’re one of the most community-focused banks in the area. We live here too, and when we help the town, we’re helping each other.”
That community focus includes financial support to schools, libraries, hospitals, and other institutions.

“We want to help organizations that really support the community as a whole. These are things that everyone benefits from – and areas that are usually underfunded,” Mitchell added. “We try to give money to organizations that help the most people for the best reasons.”

Country also conducts a school banking program in area elementary schools, building early financial literacy by teaching students about savings and investment – and providing them with passbooks to open their own in-school accounts. The program is important, Scully said, in an age when youths are less exposed to banks simply because their parents do much more banking at ATMs or on the Internet.
“This fills a void,” he said. “We’re teaching them about banking, and the kids love it.”

Healthy Growth

These programs and personal touches aside, Scully knows a bank won’t attract new business unless it has the resources to back up its service. And Country Bank has continued to grow not only its personal banking products but its commercial services.

“We want to help organizations that really support the community as a whole. These are things that everyone benefits from – and areas that are usually underfunded. We try to give money to organizations that help the most people for the best reasons.”

“The pace of commercial lending has really picked up in the last 18 to 24 months, mainly because we’ve seen a significant upswing in new-home building in our communities,” he said. “A lot of people who work in Boston are realizing they can spend just a little more time on the Mass Pike and have a totally different quality of life.”

Scully said many of the developers who work with the bank are independent builders who might put up just three to four houses a year, and they are comfortable with Country’s resources and history. “They know we’re in it for the long haul – we’re not going to be hanging a new name on the door.”

In recent years, Country has also launched commercial cash-management services that help businesses streamline by keeping a variety of financial programs under one umbrella, he added.

Meanwhile, if homes are being built, they’re also being purchased, and Country, like most banks, continues to reap the benefits of a booming mortgage market. However, for the first time in awhile, most of that recent business has come from new purchases, not refinancing.

“We just had one of our biggest purchase months in years,” Scully said. “Most everyone who was going to refinance already has.”

As for personal money management, Country Bank’s Internet option has grown significantly in the past several years. “I don’t think people have the skepticism they had when Internet banking was first introduced,” Mitchell said.
Scully recalls that, in the 1980s, some in the banking industry saw the advent of ATMs – and the prospect of Internet banking – eventually rendering branch banking obsolete.

“What we found out was that everyone loves these services – you might use your debit card constantly and check your balance online at 3 in the morning – but people still want to drive by a branch and know it’s there when they need it. We’ve given people a few more portals to do business, but they haven’t replaced branches.”

Service First

That’s why personalized service will continue to be a hallmark of Country Bank, Scully said. It’s a priority that extends to phone calls, which are answered by employees, not a computer.

“Some banks feel they can give better service with an automated system, but people don’t like that,” Mitchell said. “As a customer, you want personal contact.”

They also want a quick response to their problems. Scully recalled a recent customer complaint that made it to his desk. “I agreed with the customer, and we corrected it. He’s happier now, and he feels better about us.”
After 30 years working for mutual banks with a community focus, Scully feels good about where he is, too.

“I couldn’t imagine doing anything else. There are aspects to this you couldn’t replace at another bank,” he said. “It’s all in how you treat people. Everything in life comes back to how you treat people.”

Whether you’re giving them a loan or a paper shredder.

The Next Step

By
Sections Supplements
RFQ Issued for Ambitious Project at Former Belchertown State School
Plans to convert the sprawling former Belchertown State School complex into a health and wellness center entered a new phase late last month, with the issuance of an RFQ, or request for statements of interest and qualifications, for the closely watched economic development initiative.

The RFQ, issued Sept. 27 by the Belchertown Economic Development and Industrial Corp. (BEDIC) and the Maryland-based Hunter Interests Inc., was distributed to approximately 400 prospective development companies across the country. It was issued to gauge interest within the development community for a project that will convert the long-abandoned property into a tourist attraction and jobs center.

While the specifics of the project will be shaped by the response from developers, plans for the site currently center around the Cold Spring Resort Hotel and Spa that would be built on a portion of a 100-acre section of the 400-acre Belchertown State School site. The hotel and spa would have a health and wellness theme and, hopefully, serve to unite many development elements of the overall project.

Some of these elements would involve new construction, while some might involve renovation of some of the 24 buildings that make up the complex, which, at its peak served more than 1,000 developmentally disabled children and adults.

The RFQ is the first step in a two-phase developer-solicitation process, said Ernest Bleinberger, senior vice president and chief operating officer for Hunter Interests, a real estate economics and financial consulting firm. The RFQ responses will be due Nov. 8, he explained, adding that the next step will be the issuance of a more-detailed request for proposals, or RFP, a step expected to occur in mid-November.

“This is basically a mixed-use project with a combination of hotel, office, retail, and other unique elements resulting from both an adaptive reuse approach and new construction on portions of the 100+ acres that are part of the master plan and development Strategy adopted by the BEDIC in August,” said Bleinberger. “The objective is to attract a development team that has both the capability to take on the overall project, which includes historic preservation and other challenges, as well as the all-important hotel development and operating piece.

“Tourism and other elements of market support are strong, not only for the hotel and spa, but for many uses that will serve the local and sub-regional population,” he continued. “We have had many verbal expressions of interest from small businesses and health professionals wishing to have a presence within this campus environment that is being created. There will be many amenities for locals, as well as for visitors from outside the area.”

During the month of October, Hunter and the BEDIC will be talking with prospective developers, coordinating site visits, providing additional background information as requested, and otherwise working to ensure a strong response to the RFQ, said Bleinberger. “In a project such as this, we would hope for perhaps a dozen qualified development companies to step forward. From there it’s a horse race to see which one is most competitive and the best fit for Belchertown.”

The health and wellness complex is the latest proposal forwarded for the complex, which closed in the early 1990s. Earlier concepts included a prison and a mix of retail and housing components.

The RFQ and future RFP will soon be available on www.Belchertown.org, the official Web site for the town of Belchertown.

Bra None

By
Show Us Your Bra
Sections Supplements
Unique Program Offers A New Kind Of Support To Breast Cancer Survivors
Show Us Your Bra

Show Us Your Bra

Since its inception in the early ’90s, The Breast Form Fund has been bolstered by the generous contributions of the Western Mass. business community and by one unique, far-reaching fundraiser: the Show Us Your Bra event held every two years in October. This year, the continued support of businesses, organizations, and individuals alike has provided for an even
larger month-long celebration of art, community involvement, and, most importantly, women’s health.

Pine cones, pennies, red sequins, ketchup bottles, Wonder Bread bags, fake fur, fishing line, and plenty of underwire.

This laundry list of materials seems strange and random at first. It’s downright absurd when put into context — as the materials used to create one-of-a-kind, and often wild and wacky, pieces of art that all share one common trait: they’re bras.
Indeed, the Show Us Your Bra event, held biennially to benefit the Breast Form Fund, a non-profit that began at Gazebo, a lingerie and post-mastectomy shop in Northampton, is a one- (or shall we say two) of-a-kind event. But kidding aside, its also one of the most effective and imaginative fund-raising activities devised to assist survivors of breast cancer in living and feeling well.

“It’s an artsy, humorous, light way of addressing a serious issue,” said Judith Fine, owner of Gazebo and co-founder of the Breast Form Fund, along with Gazebo manager Emma Dostal. “It’s also all-inclusive — all are welcome to submit a bra they’ve created — boys, men, children, the elderly, everyone. I think that’s one thing that has made us so successful.”

BraStory

Show Us Your Bra has become the defining aspect of the Breast Form Fund, which supplies funding for uninsured and underinsured women who have had mastectomies to allow them to purchase breast prostheses and post-mastectomy bras. Fine explained that, for many years, the American Cancer Society supplied grant money for women in need of breast forms. But in 1992, that funding dried up, and Fine and Dostal saw an opportunity to help breast cancer survivors by creating a fund derived from a percentage of all of Gazebo’s sales.

“We addressed the issue by taking a percentage of sales and immediately saw that start to help people,” she said.

The Breast Form Fund functioned in that way for several years, essentially as a separate bank account operated by Gazebo that supplied $400 grants to breast cancer survivors for a breast form, which costs about $300, and two bras.

Soon, though, said Fine, the Breast Form Fund concept began to grow, and take on a life of its own, making its biggest leap on the occasion of Gazebo’s 20th anniversary in 1997. A unique celebration was planned that put the creative mettle of Western Mass. residents to the test, charging people of all ages and walks of life to create an artful rendition of a bra, and give it a clever moniker.

“The event was only meant to be held once,” Fine explained. “It was devised to commemorate our 20th anniversary and we were happy to see it become such a hit, but the next year, when we began telling people that it wasn’t going to happen again, they started demanding it.”

Thus, the Show Us Your Bra fundraiser was born. The following year, the event garnered 30 entries, and the year after that, it received 40. The most artful and cleverly named bra creations were chosen to create a Show Us Your Bra calendar, which raised additional funds for the Breast Form Fund and remains a large part of the event. Shortly thereafter, the fund became an official 501C-3 non-profit, merging with Tapestry Health.

Support System

As Show Us Your Bra continued to grow, Fine said she and fellow coordinators made the decision to hold it only every other year, as the number of entries was actually getting too large. The off-year also provides time to plan the event and to concentrate on marketing and promoting the Breast Form Fund.
But that’s not to say the event’s popularity waned. Since 1998, Show Us Your Bra has added a gala auction to its fundraising repertoire, at which visitors bid on their favorite bras.

“That was the year we went really big,” Fine said, noting that it was also the year that specific dates marking the event’s gradual growth and success began to get hazy, as positive momentum made the Breast Form Fund and Show Us Your Bra less a free-standing event and more a regional fixture.

The fund ended its partnership with Tapestry Health in the early years of this decade and formed a new one with the Cancer Connection in Florence, and now functions as an independent non-profit.

“It’s an artsy, humorous, light way of addressing a serious issue. It’s also all-inclusive — all are welcome to submit a bra they’ve created — boys, men, children, the elderly, everyone. I think that’s one thing that has made us so successful.”

The 2003 show displayed a staggering 240 bra creations, many from local artists, cancer survivors, support organizations, schools, and individuals, but others from as far away as California or Colorado.

Fine said the expansion of Show Us Your Bra has allowed the Breast Form Fund to help a greater number of women, and to assist them more efficiently. In the past, she said, women had to come directly to Gazebo to be helped, but now women within a 50-mile radius of downtown Northampton can easily apply for a grant through the fund and receive assistance and information due to the fund’s expanding resources, now hovering around the $40,000 mark. Fine and the Breast Form Fund’s Board of Directors are currently at work extending that radius to 100 miles, with the goal of reaching across New England and, eventually, the country.

And Show Us Your Bra continues to grow in its splendor, too. This year, several major sponsors are involved, including Baystate Health System, Cooley Dickinson Hospital, Florence Savings Bank, Gazebo, Paradise City Arts Festival, State Street Fruit Store, the Valley Advocate, AM Lithography, Lathrop Retirement Communities, Whole Foods Market, and countless businesses that have contributed time, funding, and services to augment the Breast Form Fund’s account balance through Show Us Your Bra activities, which will span the month of October (also Breast Cancer Awareness Month).

Sandra Hubbard, a nurse practitioner with Baystate’s Regional Cancer Program and Comprehensive Breast Center, said Baystate has been involved on some level for many years, and sees the importance of the Breast Form Fund first-hand everyday.
“I’ve been personally involved for some time,” said Hubbard, “sending clients to the fund since it began. It’s important to work with and fundraise for the Breast Form Fund because it is the only service of its kind in the area.

“I see newly diagnosed patients all the time that do not have adequate insurance coverage to purchase mastectomy bras or prostheses,” she continued. “Our staff became aware of the Breast Form Fund early on because it was one way for us to address the many needs of our patients.”

Hubbard added that representatives from the D’Amour Center for Cancer Care or the Comprehensive Breast Center are routinely on hand at Show Us Your Bra events, which this year will include the original contest and display of art-bras, to be located at the Northampton Center for the Arts throughout the month with an auction on Oct. 22, the auction, and a black-tie kick-off celebration to be staged on Oct. 6 in conjunction with the Paradise City Arts Festival at the Hotel Northampton.

At the gala, eight artful bras, created by juried Paradise City ‘bratistes,’ such as Josh Simpson of Shelburne Falls who is famous for his intricate glass planets, will be auctioned off.

Cups Runneth Over

“It’s the twist this year that is going to help us continue to ‘raise the bra’ on the artistic merit of this event,” Fine quipped.

“A lot of the bras that people contribute are funny, but many are poignant, too,” she continued. “And the fact that Show Us Your Bra just keeps getting bigger and bigger is proof that everyone knows someone who has had breast cancer, and everyone’s lives are touched by it. But gradually, we’re addressing a real need here with the help of many, many people.”

Jaclyn Stevenson can be reached at[email protected]

Meeting of the Minds

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Sections Supplements
Holyoke Community College Gets Down to Business with New Facility
Community college is a two-word phrase. Geoff Little doesn’t want to forget that.
“We’re a community college, which says we have expectations and responsibilities beyond the campus walls to support growth and quality of life in the communities around us,” said Little, acting vice president for business and community affairs at Holyoke Community College.

Little will apply that philosophy as executive director of the college’s $18 million, five-story Kittredge Business Center, set to open to students and area companies in January.

“The intent was not to create a building that’s isolated from the campus,” Little said. “This building and its resources are intended to be accessible to both students on campus and the business community in general. So it serves a number of purposes.”

Indeed, HCC’s vision has been to create a one-stop business center that regional employers could use for workforce development and training, conferences, internships, and support for domestic and international trade – a vital resource, in other words, for current businesses and new ventures alike.

The center’s namesake, Michael Kittredge, who launched the project with a $1 million donation, knows a few things about business ventures. Over a few decades, the HCC alum turned a homemade candle enterprise into Yankee Candle, one of the Pioneer Valley’s most celebrated entrepreneurial success stories.

Little wants to see other stories like that emerge at this new facility near the intersection of Routes 90 and 91 – and at the crossroads of academia and business.

Science and Aesthetics

That physical location, near the juncture of two major highways, is a crucial part of marketing the Kittredge Business Center, said Michael Giampietro, HCC’s vice president for administration and finance. Like Little, he recognizes that the college plays a role in the economic vitality of the entire Knowledge Corridor region, from Hampshire County to Hartford.

“Part of the college’s mission, in addition to educating the region’s youth and people who want to come back for additional degrees, is to educate the incumbent workforce and to provide retraining opportunities for people who are changing careers or simply want to upgrade their skills,” Giampietro said. “The college has been short on space to provide that kind of training, and there is certainly a need for it.”

The Kittredge Business Center answers that space need, providing 55,000 square feet of academic and business resources, including 4,000 square feet of conference and meeting spaces for use by area businesses, all equipped with high-speed Internet connections, videoconferencing, and cutting-edge light and projection.

The building will also house the college’s Center for Business and Professional Development, dedicated to workforce training, as well as a career center that will provide a central location for employers to find interns and recruit new employees.
Two organizations dedicated to helping companies develop wider client bases will also make the business center their home: the World Institute for Strategic Economic Research (WISER), home to the nation’s leading online database for international trade statistics; and the Western Mass. office of the Mass. Export Center, which offers market research, export training, and international business development services.

Resources such as these will benefit not only area companies, Little said, but the school’s business students, who will attend many of their classes in the new facility. Non-business students will still find themselves in the building from time to time, as it was designed with the flow and connectivity of the entire physical campus in mind.

“It’s integrated into the campus nicely,” Little said. “It will draw people through the building who might not otherwise have a reason to be there. So we want this to be a resource for the business community, but also accessible for students.”
Giampietro said two main goals of the project have been to incorporate computer and wireless technology into every facet of the building, and to provide study and meeting areas for students.

“Over the years, as the college has grown, we’ve really consumed much of the informal gathering space for study and social gatherings,” he said. “One goal of this building is to bring that back.”

Another student-oriented feature is the building’s third-floor “green roof,” a 2,500-square-foot space that will be populated with native ground cover, grasses, and plants – a modern design concept that students in the environmental science program may incorporate into their program of study.

Giampietro added that the roof should attract some of the birds and insects native to the area, as well as reducing water runoff from the building and lessening the environmental impact on a neighboring brook.

“We wanted to introduce as many environmentally friendly components to the building as we could, and this is obviously one of them,” he said. “Our campus is very rural and surrounded by woodlands, so the green roof helps to preserve some of that.”

Investing in the Future

At its heart, however, the Kittredge Business Center is meant to grow area businesses and be a bridge between students and those companies.

That’s a relevant goal, considering that more than 80% of HCC’s students stay in Massachusetts after they graduate, and 65% stay within the Pioneer Valley region, said Erica Broman, vice president for institutional development. And those statistics help explain community support for the college; a $4 million capital campaign ($3 million of which is earmarked for the business center) has raised more than $3.6 million to date, including more than $500,000 from alumni.

“When businesses give a gift to a community college, they see a return on it. It’s not like they’re giving a gift to a larger, private institution where graduates might go off to all regions of the country,” Broman said. “Our alumni, by and large, stay nearby and become employees and customers of these corporations. That’s the strategy we’ve used when approaching businesses, and they’ve responded to it.”

Even though the center’s opening is a few months away, Little and other administrators are moving forward with efforts to market its services to area businesses.

“We’re shaping the message and information now, and we’ll be holding some focus groups to start drawing some feedback from the community,” he said. “Out of that, we’ll deliver the message in a way that will best explain to people the reason for the center and the resources within it.”

The goal of making area businesses stronger and more competitive, while giving HCC’s own students an edge as they enter the work world, is a message that resonates, Little said.

“There will be many opportunities for internships and co-ops, and that experiential learning is critical for students,” he explained. “But it can be just as beneficial to businesses. We’re interested in outcomes.”

Bringing together faculty, students, and business people under one roof – and supplying them with state-of-the-art resources – is the first step to bringing about those positive outcomes, he added.

“There’s no definitive map to this – we’re developing it as we go – but we are centering on the idea of collaboration and cooperation. We are looking to be the resource for area businesses that want to expand their customer base.”

That would mean a brighter future for companies throughout the Pioneer Valley. And if the Kittredge name is known for anything, it’s making the world a little brighter.

AIC Forges Admissions Program With Community Colleges

By
Sections Supplements
Vincent Maniaci, president of American International College, took a look at the application forms for Springfield Technical Community College and Holyoke Community College shortly after assuming his post in August.

He noted that by checking a box, students accepted at one of the two institutions were given the option of seamlessly transferring to Westfield State College or UMass Amherst after the successful completion of coursework at one of the two-year colleges.

He then approached STCC president Ira Rubenzahl and HCC president William Messner with a simple request: “I want AIC to have its own box,” he said.
And four weeks later, it did.

HCC and STCC announced this month that they have entered into a dual admissions agreement with AIC, creating the first such arrangement with a private, four-year institution in the area. Under the new admissions agreement, students who are accepted to one of the two community colleges can opt to continue their education at AIC after the successful completion of two years of coursework.

“Many students are already well-served by the dual admissions agreements with WSC and UMass,” Maniaci said, “but there are still many students who would be well-served at AIC, and we felt a program like this would benefit all three institutions. Students with direction are more likely to graduate from college, and increasing the number of college graduates in our area is a civically-conscious goal that we will continue to focus on in the future.”

The partnership creates a number of incentives for students during their college career, according to Pauline Mortenson, director of international and transfer admissions at AIC. Students who sign up for dual (or joint) admissions when applying to STCC or HCC will have access to a variety of AIC services, including academic advising, mentoring, financial aid counseling, the college’s library, and all student functions including social and athletic events. That will help those students achieve the grade point average needed to continue at AIC after two years at STCC or HCC, Mortenson said, adding that the requirements vary from major to major. But it will also allow those students to integrate themselves into the AIC community early on.

“Students will receive a special ID card that gives them access to the campus right away,” Mortenson said. “And it also allows us to get to them sooner. We can help them choose courses that will transfer to AIC or help them to be more prepared when they get here, and it lets us guide them through the process and make the entire experience better for them.”

Mortenson added that upon entering the joint admissions program, students are automatically allocated a $4,000 scholarship that goes into effect when they begin classes as AIC after completing two years at STCC or HCC. That scholarship can be coupled with additional transfer scholarships to AIC, often awarded to transfer students with high grade point averages, and with all government-funded financial aid.

HCC President William Messner concurred that the agreement has clear benefits for students who wish to transfer to a four-year college, streamlining the process and providing specialized guidance along the way.
“The scholarship and student activities components should engage students and further smoothen the transition,” he said.

Stephen H. Keller, vice president for academic affairs Springfield Technical Community College said the new partnership will offer added opportunities to the region’s college-bound residents.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for our students who are planning to complete a bachelor’s degree,” he said. “Traditionally, many of our graduating students have transferred on to pursue a bachelor’s degree at AIC, particularly in their business programs which mesh well with ours. This new agreement will allow the students to learn more about AIC’s campus and services while they’re still studying at STCC, to determine if AIC is a good fit for them.”

The program went into effect on Sept. 22, after Maniaci, Messner, and Rubenzahl simultaneously signed the paperwork finalizing the agreement. Mortenson said students have already begun to enroll.

By
Departments

The following bankruptcy petitions were recently filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. Readers should confirm all information with the court.

Aguirre, Felix Alejandro
PO Box 5672
Springfield, MA 01101
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/28/05

Allen, Russell H.
2661 Boston Road
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/24/05

Anderson, Donald G.
208 Bay Road
Belchertown, MA 01007
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/30/05

Andis-Hamlett, Nora C.
101 Fowler St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/30/05

Anziano, Anthony C.
P.O. Box 191
West Springfield, MA 01090
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/26/05

Arnold, Jenelle E.
116 N. Lake Ave.
Southwick, MA 01077
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/26/05

Aubuchon, Richard P.
43 West Summit St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/30/05

Bak, Felicia L.
Bak, Heather D.
98 Skyridge St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/24/05

Banach, Michelle M.
25 Berwyn St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/19/05

Barber, Maria R.
155 Carroll St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/26/05

Bates, Larry J.
Bates, Joya D.
3 Fenwick St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/22/05

Beaulieu, Amanda L.
Beaulieu, Luke J.
1430 Russell Road
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/23/05

Bergeron, John A.
P.O. Box 591
South Hadley, MA 01075
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/30/05

Bergstrom, Diane T.
86 Alvin St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/17/05

Bertelli, Dennis John
Bertelli, Nancy Ann
41 Margaret St.
Springfield, MA 01105
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/20/05

Bigda, David M.
62 White St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/30/05

Bouchard, Alice M.
93 East Pheasant Hill Dr.
Feeding Hills, MA 01030
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/16/05

Bouche, Kimberly A.
241 Jackson St., Apt. 4D
Northampton, MA 01060
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/29/05

Bousquet, Donald F.
62 South Park Ter.
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/18/05

Briggs, Marilyn L.
106 Wood Ave.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/18/05

Bruso, Donald J.
Bruso, Laureen R.
129 South St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/26/05

Buendia, Patricia A.
182 Hampden St.
Indian Orchard, MA 01151
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/24/05

Butler, Marcus Calvin
35 Fruit St., A22
Northampton, MA 01060
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/16/05

Calabrese, Lori B.
30 Bel Air Dr.
Longmeadow, MA 01106
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/25/05

Caloon, Pamela A.
37 Drexel St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/18/05

Canady, Jo-Anne
327 Beacon Circle
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/19/05

Carter, Cara J.
44 Warrenton St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/01/05

Cedrez, Wilber A.
23 Noel St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/17/05

Chamberlain, Brian E
90 Debra Dr. – Apt. 4F
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/30/05

Chicklowski, Christina R
69 Roy St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/31/05

Clayton, Sandra J.
24 Cyran St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/23/05

Closser, Edward W.
l64 Eddywood St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/31/05

Closser, Kelly A.
55 Old Farm Road
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/31/05

Collins, Craig Allen
16 Camp Jahn Road
Southampton, MA 01073
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/28/05

Colon, Miguel A.
Colon, Lourdes M.
37 St. Jerome Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/31/05

Comtois, Raymond L.
Comtois, Mary L.
55 Farnum Dr.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/17/05

Connell, Donna M.
2 Geryk Court
Easthampton, MA 01027
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/23/05

Connolly, Carolyn Louise
1103 Liberty St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/23/05

Connor-Fusco, Pamela Jane
130 Crosspath Road
Northampton, MA 01060
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/20/05

Cote, Kelly E.
67 Manchonis Rd.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/30/05

Couture, Robert A.
Couture, Carolyn A.
124 Joan St.
Springfield, MA 01129
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/30/05

Crescione, Doreen Yvonne
46 Newbury St.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/20/05

Crichlow, Bessie M.
12 Florida St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/01/05

Cruz Alvarez, Jose
Cruz, Gladys E
15 Prew Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/16/05

Cyranowski, Jane
567 Dickinson St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 08/16/05

Dasso, Ramona A.
1358 Bay St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/19/05

Davila, Jovanni
P.O. Box 2511
Holyoke, MA 01041
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/26/05

Delaney, Luke W
261 Arcade St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/25/05

Devins, Arthur R.
Devins, Karen A.
79 Howard St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/23/05

DiAugustino, Eric J.
29 York St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/23/05

Dowd, Thomas L.
Dowd, Jean C.
98 Arthur St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/01/05

Dragon, Lisa L.
47 King St., Apt # A
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/25/05

Drainville, Paul Henry
120 Derryfield Ave.
Springfield, MA 01118
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/26/05

Duprey, Daniel P.
58 Calumet Road
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/18/05

Dygon, Suzanne M.
9 Thaddeus St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/29/05

Elliott, Sonya R.
16 Main Blvd.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/16/05

Fernandes, Brenda A.
312 James St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/23/05

Florentino, Teresa M.
16 Carriage Lane
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/26/05

Foley, Joseph Vincent
10 Lamb St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/26/05

Fonseca, William M.
Fonseca, Darlene A.
31 Van Dyke Road
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/31/05

Foote, Christopher J.
Foote, Jennifer A.
56 Dwight Road
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/18/05

Fournier, Ross W.
P.O. Box 337
Ludlow, MA 01056
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/24/05

Frey, Tammy Ann
P.O. Box 284
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/18/05

Gahres, Sylvia A.
132 E. Main St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/25/05

Gamidov, Samir N
19 Sessions Dr.
Hampden, MA 01036
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/17/05

Gesell, Carol Ann
28 Clinton St.
Easthampton, MA 01027
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/19/05

Giroux, Christine M.
696 Britton St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/01/05

Gonzalez, Judy
81 Drexel St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/24/05

Gouger, Steven L.
Gouger, Susan M.
61 Eskett St.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/26/05

Green, Carrie Ann
1607 Main St.
Springfield, MA 01103
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/17/05

Greenberg, Stephanie Lyn
188-A Rocky Hill Road
Florence, MA 01062
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/20/05

Griffin, Janis M.
67 Labelle St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/26/05

Hall, Latasha M.
86 Pheland Ave.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 08/25/05

Hamlett, Daniel J.
101 Fowler St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/30/05

Hanjack, Lorie L
117 Leonard St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/25/05

Harrigan, Michael J.
320 Maple St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/17/05

Hatfield, Jeremy
14 Royalton St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/25/05

Hayden, Patricia L.
513 Parker St.
Springfield, MA 01129
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 09/01/05

Hernandez, Dario
68 Tokeneke Road
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/29/05

Holbrook, Ella B.
3 Mobile Home Way
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/25/05

James, Lorna Claralee
985 Roosevelt Ave.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/28/05

Johnson, Thomas E.
32 Governer St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/25/05

Krstyen, Amy A.
611 Narragansett St.
Springfield, MA 01107
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/24/05

Lafrenaye, Irene Rose
58 Crescent Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/01/05

Kane, Thomas J.
66 Forest Hills Road
Hampden, MA 01036
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 08/31/05

Kelly, Cheryl A.
430 Pleasant St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 08/25/05

Kenyon, Nancy K.
Kenyon, Robin A.
93 Orpheum Ave.
Springfield, MA 01118
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/22/05

Kowal, Daniel M.
116 Narragansett St.
Springfield, MA 01107
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/25/05

LaRussa, Thomas J
LaRussa, Irene B.
27 Kingman Ave.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/26/05

Lee, Nicholas D.
4 Devonshire Dr.
Wilbraham, MA 01095
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/26/05

Loddo, Jennifer M.
541 Nassau Dr.
Springfield, MA 01129
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/31/05

Lorion, Carolynn M.
27 Champlain St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/30/05

Lorion, Jeffrey R.
27 Champlain St.
Springfield, MA 01151
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/30/05

Marcial, Evilin
22 Massreco St.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/28/05

Marcoullier, Ronald Paul
30 East Street Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/20/05

Marie, Lee
92 Fairview Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/30/05

Marsche, Judith Antoinette
74 Paul Revere Dr.
Feeding Hills, MA 01030
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/01/05

Martin, Michael R
272 Sargeant St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/26/05

Martin, Richard M.
10 Fairview St.
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/24/05

Matthews, Yvonne R.
59 Edendale St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 08/24/05

McGuill, John P.
33 Greenwood St.
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/31/05

McMaster-Marcelina,
Eunice F
16 Driftwood Road
Springfield, MA 01128
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/19/05

Monahan, Kevin C.
47 Broad Street, Apt. B31
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/22/05

Morancy, Patricia M.
7-B Kasper Dr.
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/28/05

Morgado, Marco A.
Morgado, CathyAnn
38 Fisher Road
Chicopee, MA 01013
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/24/05

New England Food Distribution, Inc.
1158 East St.
Ludlow, MA 01056
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/17/05

Nunez, Myrna
123 Brown Ave.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/20/05

Page, Lucille A.
60 Forbes Ave.
Northampton, MA 01060
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/18/05

Palka, Martin R
Palka, Debra C.
126 Summer St
Thorndike, MA 01079
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/22/05

 

Parslow, Michele M.
384 Nichols Road
Barre, MA 01005
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/25/05

Pepe, Denise M.
17 Manor Court
Springfield, MA 01118
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/31/05

Perez, Andres
PO Box 6345
Springfield, MA 01101
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/29/05

Perreault, Michael G.
Perreault, Robin A.
491 McKinstry Ave.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/26/05

Perry, LaShawne
4 Fanwood St.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/19/05

Pettico, Michael T.
3 Harrison Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/16/05

Pinto, Migdalia
41 Central St.
Springfield, MA 01105
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/30/05

Plante, Tonya L.
43 Hope Farms Dr.
Feeding Hills, MA 01030
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/17/05

Poirier, James E.
Poirier, Carmen M.
23 James Ave.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/16/05

Radomski, Benjamin
49 Loretta St.
Springfield, MA 01118
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/26/05

Rathbun, John Michael
20 Lori Lane
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/28/05

Ravenscraft, Paul M.
48 Evergreen Road #214
Leeds, MA 01053
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/30/05

Raymond, Lezime
Raymond, Theresa M.
38 Thomas St., Apt 302
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/20/05

Reichsman, Laura J.
94 Pratt Corner Road
Shutesbury, MA 01072
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/25/05

Reyes, Angel M.
Reyes, Nelly
332 Maple St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/01/05

Ringer, Richard K
198 Mill St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/17/05

Rivera, Ruben
21 Ormond St.
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/01/05

Roberts, Scott A.
PO Box 327
East Longmeadow, MA 01028
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/29/05

Rodriguez, Miguel A.
90 Newfield St.
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/29/05

Rumore, Gino J.
33 Norman Ter.
Feeding Hills, MA 01030
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/25/05

Russo, Robert
210 Walnut St.
Agawam, MA 01001
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/19/05

Saluk, Patrick Edmond
17 Bushwick Place
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/30/05

Santamaria, Jodi L.
42 Stratford Ter.
Springfield, MA 01108
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 08/16/05

Santiago, Carmen S.
163 High St., Apt. # 203
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/16/05

Slate, Kenneth P.
11 Catherine Dr.
Belchertown, MA 01007
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/18/05

Small, Debra A.
57 Minechaug Heights
Ludlow, MA 01057
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/01/05

Sorokin, Nikolay P
372 Granby Road
South Hadley, MA 01075
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/31/05

Spear, Gerald E.
Spear, Laurel A.
14 Pennsylvania Ave.
Springfield, MA 01118
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/25/05

Specht, Paul Vernon
87 Prospect St.
Northampton, MA 01060
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/30/05

Staccato, Maureen L.
60 Elmdale St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/26/05

Stamm, Supanee
73 Silver St.
Springfield, MA 01107
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/30/05

Stanfill, Phyllis R.
34 Ina St.
Springfield, MA 01108|
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 08/18/05

Swearingen, David W.
54 Loomis Ave.
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 08/30/05

Symington, Kenneth James
43 Craig Dr., Apt. R-1
West Sp
ingfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/20/05

Taliceo, Kim E.
75 Bluebird Circle
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/18/05

Theriaque, Arthur J.
127 Ambrose St.
Springfield, MA 01107
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/26/05

Thibault, Gilles A
67 Labelle St.
West Springfield, MA 01089
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/26/05

Thrower, Brian
180 Moss Road
Springfield, MA 01119
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/18/05

Tiffany-Teece, Gail E.
485 South St.
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/22/05

Toledo, Carmen M.
24 Cameron St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/25/05

Torres-Fernandes, Diana I
12 Pine Grove
Amherst, MA 01002
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/19/05

Tosado, Maria C.
834 Parker St.
Springfield, MA 01129
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 08/17/05

Turgeon, Sandra L.
24 Water Lane
Easthampton, MA 01027
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/30/05

Van Beek, Holly G.
3 Park Ave., #1
Westfield, MA 01085
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/29/05

Vanasse, Peter C.
Vanasse, Pamela J.
13 Point Grove Road
Southwick, MA 01077
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/01/05

Voyik, Jennifer L.
113 Geneva St.
Indian Orchard, MA 01151
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/25/05

Weatherbee, Thomas C.
77 Davis St.
Springfield, MA 01104
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 09/01/05

White, David J.
314 St. James Ave.
Springfield, MA 01109
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/23/05

Widun, Mitchell R.
2 Iroquois Dr.
Southwick, MA 01077
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/24/05

Wiezbicki, Steven M
80 Paradise St., Unit 3
Springfield, MA 01129
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/22/05

Williams, Marion Matthew
20 Easthampton Road K-11
Holyoke, MA 01040
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/25/05

Wyda, John M.
Wyda, Joan M.
23 Pearl St.
South Hadley, MA 01075
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/30/05

Young, Kerry Ausa
159 B. Montague Road
Leverett, MA 01054
Chapter: 7
Filing Date: 08/23/05

Zygarowski, Robert J.
159 Casey Dr.
Chicopee, MA 01020
Chapter: 13
Filing Date: 08/19/05

By
Departments

The following building permits were issued during the month of September 2005.

AMHERST

Amherst College Trustees
280 Main St.
$1,900 — Install four signs

Amherst College Trustees
Johnson Chapel
$21,474 — Structural repairs and renovations

Charles DeRose
55 University Dr.
$3,500 — Erect sign – The Hanger

Kamel R. Hassan
660 West St.
$17,000 — Re-roof

EAST LONGMEADOW

Coleman Cable
50 Industrial Dr.
$94,012 — Foundation for three silos

HOLYOKE

Albert LaFluer
399-403 Hillside Ave.
$30,300 — Construct garage

Holyoke Mall Co.
50 Holyoke St.
$37,550— Remodel GNC

South Street Plaza
209-235 South St.
$40,000 — Interior renovations

NORTHAMPTON

Bennett and Lilly Gaev
94 King St.
$$16,400 — Create offices in basement

Lieberman Gallery
34 North Maple St.
$34,000 — Relocate bath door, construct office/reception area

Michael Gormely
92 Main St.
$5000 — Erect wall sign – Murduff’s Jewelry

Northampton Veterinary Clinic
227 South St.
$7,825
— Construct handicap ramp

SPRINGFIELD

Baystate Health
759 Chestnut St.
$827,489 — Renovations and small addition

C & W Breckwood Realty
1060 Wilbraham Road
$40,000 — Add office space

Dominican Nuns
1430 Riverdale St.
$50,000 — Enlarge meeting room

Freedom Credit Union
1976 Main St.
$32,000
— Interior renovations

NEFWC
1628-1640 Main St.
$29,000 — Interior renovations

Salamon Realty
42 Myron St.
$100,000
— Addition

Syed Absar
2645 Main St.
$218,340 — Create retail business

WESTFIELD

Devcon Shops
433E Main St.
$2,000 — Interior renovations-

By
Departments

The following is a compilation of recent lawsuits involving area businesses and organizations. These are strictly allegations that have yet to be proven in a court of law. Readers are advised to contact the parties listed, or the court, for more information concerning the individual claims.

NORTHAMPTON DISTRICT COURT
Rugg Lumber Co. Inc. v. Federal Management Co. Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for goods sold and delivered: $14,400.68
Date Filed: Aug. 31

HOLYOKE DISTRICT COURT
Carrier Nationwide Trucking Systems Inc. v. Specialty Loose Leaf Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for services: $8,075
Date Filed: Sept. 9

SPRINGFIELD DISTRICT COURT
David Collins d/b/a Collins Insurance Agency v. James A. Velis d/b/a Velis Insurance Agency
Allegation: Breach of promissory note: $14,622.80
Date Filed: Aug. 23

Standard Tools & Equipment Co. v. America’s Pride Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for goods sold and delivered: $5,281.27
Date Filed: Sept. 2

Network Employment Services Inc. v. The Holyoke Card & Paper Co.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for services: $3,548.16
Date Filed: Sept. 7

Medical Diagnostic & Rehab LLC d/b/a MVA Center for Rehab v. Hanover Insurance Co.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for services: $4,639.30
Date Filed: Sept. 12

Webster Architectural Woodworking Inc. v. Comcolor Photographics and Imaging Inc.
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for goods sold and delivered: $14,070
Date Filed: Sept. 14

HAMPDEN SUPERIOR COURT
Westover Building Supply Co. v. Andrew Mitchell d/b/a Mitchell Drywall & Plaster
Allegation: Breach of contract — Failure to pay for goods sold and delivered: $66,477.89
Date Filed: Aug. 24

By
Departments

The following Business Certificates and Trade Names were issued or renewed during the month of September 2005.

AMHERST

American Loss Mitigation Agency of Amherst
57 Olympic Dr.
Philip Brady

Everyday Enchantments
33 Kellogg Ave.
Heather Lowing, Antonio Landati

Grace Bodywork
196 North Pleasant St.
Mary Grace Farley

Royal Technical Services
37 Tamarock Dr.
Raymond Frankel

Sun Day Greetings
55 Chesterfield Dr.
Alan and Brenda Kellman

AGAWAM

All Clean Powerwash
90 Alhambra Circle North
Cynthia Hutcheson

Omega Transportation of Western MA
104 Regency Park Dr.
Steven Cagan

Packaging Service
168 Elm St.
Vincent Zucco

Shepard Renovations
45 Southwick St.
Michael Shepard

Tower Electric
578 North Westfield St.
Johnathon Tower

CHICOPEE

C.A.S. Services
141 Grape St.
Cassandra Salvador

Comforte Contracting Co.
31 Moore St.
Anthony Comforte III

Marshalls
591 Memorial Dr.
Marshalls of MA Inc.

New England Aquatic Designs
297 Broadway St.
Mark Johnston

Perfect Fit Dental Lab
44 Blanche St.
Yuri Murzin

EAST LONGMEADOW

Erin Chrusciel Photography
29 Country Club Dr.
Erin Chrusciel

MKR Fleet Washing & Maintenance
13 North Main St.
Mark Rogensky

HOLYOKE

ABC Sales & Service
621 South Canal St.
Robert Celi

Abbondanza! Personal Chef Service
21 Dexter St.
Cindy Pierce

Davans
245 Main St.
David Rodriguez

Holyoke Works
100 Front St.
Doris Ransford

MA Academy of Ballet
4 Open Square Way
Rose and Charles Flachs

South Summer Auto Repair
525 South Summer St.
Jose Burgos

U-Haul of Holyoke
250 Appleton St.
Matthew Pepin

LONGMEADOW

Creation World-Art and Design Studio
226 Franklin Road
Tatyana Glukhovsky

Animal Instincts Pet Sitting & Dog Walking
P.O. Box 60581
Jennifer L. Burgess

NORTHAMPTON

Currant
33 Hawley St.
Hamenth Swaminathan

Gallery 55
18 Strong Ave.
John Mottern

House to Home Staging
66 Willow St.
Pam Rose Eden-Cox

Meridian Acupuncture
52 Center St.
Jonathos Kapsted

Unlikely Aesthetics
19A Market St.
John Courtemanche

SOUTH HADLEY

College Consulting
25 Charon Terrace
Joanna Brown

Karen’s Place
59 High St.
Karen Archambault

SPRINGFIELD

Acupuncture & Chinese Herbal Medicines
1502 Allen St.
Stanley Baker

Angie & Blanca Ceramic
36 Winnipeg St.
Angela Rodriguez

Bliss Ceramics
29 Leitch St.
Trevis Wray

Comfort Zone Heating & Air
180 Laurelton St.
Richard Barry

Daniel Gomez Cable Service
33 Nathaniel St.
Daniel Gomez

Diamond Cut Barber Shop
616 Belmont Ave.
Osagie Ekhorytomwen

En Motion Dance Theater 156 Main St.
Shire Brown

Jose Stripping & Waxing
927 Worthington St.
Jose Santiago

Kinder Rides Transport
65 Morgan St.
Deona Rivera

Lids
1655 Boston Road
Robert Dennis

Metindu
225 Rosewell St.
Bryan St. Amand

Peoples Pawn & Jewelry
363 Worthington St.
William Miller

Photo Technique
30 Montgomery St.
Marek Tracz

Scope Spot 2
451 State St.
Francis Okyere

Stan & Fran’s Flooring & Carpeting
5 Paramount St.
Michael Burelle

Tony’s Place
739 Liberty St.
Hector Diaz

Walnut Soda & More
136 Walnut St.
Maxwell Phan

WEST SPRINGFIELD

The Advertising Club
of Western MA
104 Brookline Ave.
Richard DeBonis

Canterbury Masonry
72 Kings Hwy.
Darcie Lee Canterbury

Comfort House Cleaning
198 Labelle St.
Lyudmila Zubik

Dot’s Hair Care
975 Elm St.
Dorothy Dougherty

Kar-Needz Auto
811 Union St.
Stephen Scott

Kim’s Cleaners
935 Riverdale St.
Sun Na Kim

R.G. Management
425 Union St.
Robert Guarente

TBR Auto Reconditioning
21 Sumner St.
Anthony Cecchetelli

WESTFIELD

Apex Claims Services of N.E.
125 North Elm St.
Tom Abel, Ron Pike, Marion Guzik

Ed’s Handyman & Home Improvement
51 Robinson Dr.
Edward Daley

Global Engineering
97 Paper Mill Road
Gary Drenzek

Lampson Construction
318 City View Blvd.
Jon Lampson

Paul’s Picture Framing by Keith
22 Cherry St.
Keith Browning

By
Departments

Stephen M. Quink has returned to the Lending Department of North Brookfield Savings Bank as Vice President/Lending.

•••••

Ernestine “Tini” Sawicki, a broker and owner of Realty World Sawicki in Amherst, has been named recipient of the Mass. Association of Realtors® (MAR) Milton H. Shaw Distinguished Service Award for 2005. The award is presented annually to one Realtor® member or staff executive who has demonstrated leadership abilities and volunteered countless hours of personal time to serve on state association committees and participate in MAR activities.

•••••

The Bank of Western Massachusetts in Springfield announced the following:
• Tracy L. Fleming has been promoted to Business Services Officer, with responsibility for the development of new business services accounts, including payroll, merchant processing and cash management and the servicing of existing accounts.
• William A. Fontes has been promoted to Senior Vice President/Commercial Loan Officer, with responsibility for administering an existing portfolio of commercial loan accounts as well as acquiring new business in Hampshire County.
• Gail A. Goraj has been promoted to Business Services Officer, with responsibility for the development of new business service accounts, including payroll, merchant processing and cash management and the servicing of existing accounts, and
• Antonios D. Liberopoulos has been promoted to Senior Vice President/Commercial Loan Officer, with responsibility for administering an existing portfolio of commercial loan accounts as well as acquiring new business in Hampden County.

•••••

Nathan Winstanley, founder and president of Winstanley Associates in Lenox, was the guest speaker at the Western Mass. Ad Club’s Sept. 28 luncheon. Winstanley is also president and founder of Lenox SoftWorks, a software development company.

•••••

Gary E. Rosentreter, Ed.D., has been appointed Executive Director, Connecticut Quality Council (CQC), located at Rensselaer’s Hartford (Conn.) campus. CQC is associated with Rensselaer’s Centers for Professional Development.

•••••

Moriarty & Primack, P.C., Certified Public Accountants, in Springfield announced the following:
• Melissa English has been promoted to Senior Associate, and
• Stacey St. Pierre has been promoted to Senior Associate.

•••••

Attorney Dorothy Varon of Robinson Donovan, P.C., with offices in Springfield and Northampton, has been selected by the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly as an “Up and Coming Lawyer.” She joined the law firm in 2002 and concentrates her practice in the areas of federal litigation, civil rights, health insurance law, publishing law and civil litigation.

•••••

 

Jeremy Redmond has recently joined Innovative Business Systems, Inc. in Easthampton. Redmond holds CompTIA A+, Network+, and Security+ certifications, as well as being a Microsoft Certified Professional, Systems Administrator, and Systems Engineer (MCP, MCSA and MCSE).

•••••

Bobbi Pitkin has joined Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage of New England as a Realtor in the Longmeadow office.

•••••

Jill T. Lyons has been appointed an Associate at Morrison Mahoney in Springfield. She will concentrate her practice in health law and defense of medical malpractice claims.

•••••

Matthew McDonough, formerly of Holyoke, has joined Yale-New Haven Health System as Administrative Fellow for the 2005-2006 program year.

•••••

Richard T. O’Connor has been named Legal Counsel at Holyoke Medical Center.

•••••

Karen E. Eaton has joined Martinelli, Discenza & Hannifan in Longmeadow as an Associate. She will practice in estate planning, real estate development and finance law, municipal law, and general business practice, securities law, and investment management law.

•••••

Jacqueline McNinch has joined the Massachusetts Housing Finance Agency’s Home Ownership Business Development Group as a regional Business Development Officer for Western Massachusetts.

•••••

Jane E. Fountain has joined the faculty of the UMass Amherst in its Center for Public Policy and Administration and the Department of Political Science.

•••••

Christopher Camerlin has been appointed Manager of William Raveis Real Estate and Home Services in East Longmeadow.

••••••••••

Banana Publishing Inc. of Springfield announced the following:
• Christine Cox has been named Art Director;
• Bruce Beard has been named Sales Manager;
• Samuel O’Connor has been named to the Sales Team;
• Ronny Sinn has been named to the Sales Team;
• Mark Villano has been named to the Sales Team;
• Sarah Clark has been named Office Manager, and
• Donna Fein has been named Sales Representative.

Fueling Speculation

By
Cover Sept. 19, 2005
Cover Story
As Gas Prices Soar, Business Owners Feel the Squeeze…
Cover Sept. 19, 2005

Cover Sept. 19, 2005

In this climate of staggering gas prices, businesses across all industries are struggling with both a new set of financial hardships and the crafting of an appropriate response. Most say they are trying to avoid measures that amount to panic, and are instead focused on creative solutions that will enable them to maintain client relationships — and also stay afloat until the storm passes.

Dennis Scibelli sees trouble brewing. His coffee delivery business, Break Time based in Springfield, is feeling the squeeze of gas prices that soared in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and have generally been much higher than they were a year ago. And the price of gas isn’t his only concern.

Indeed, the rising cost of fuel has contributed to hikes in prices for everything from sugar packets to paper cups. To add insult to injury, the price of coffee has climbed as well, as many warehouses and production facilities in Louisiana were decimated by the recent hurricane.

“It’s killing us,” Scibelli lamented. “We’re in the service industry, so how are we supposed to tell a customer that we just can’t deliver? We have to continue on, and we’re doing the best we can to curb our costs.”


Ed Dersarkis is owner of Deluxe Limousine, located in Agawam, Mass.

Scibelli’s plight is in many ways similar to that of business owners across virtually every sector of the economy. There is the immediate challenge of responding to the sharp spike in gas prices after Katrina and the larger issue of how the price at the pump impacts the cost of doing business. In short, everything costs more, from plywood to pizza.

This puts business owners between a rock and a hard place. They need to stay afloat and, hopefully, in the black. At the same time, however, they need to maintain clients and steady business relationships for he long-term.

This is a delicate balancing act, as Ed Dersarkis will tell you. As owner of Deluxe Limousine Service in Agawam, he’s impacted by gas prices in a number of ways, including the many pre-written corporate contracts he has, most of which were penned when gas prices were roughly half what they are currently.

Dersarkis said he plans to honor those contracts until the end of the year, at which time he said he’ll employ surcharges to help close the gap that the gas price explosion created, but will split the difference of any increases with his clients, absorbing 50%. The tactic, he said, is designed to keep prices down and to maintain a reputation of fair pricing, as well as to approach the gasoline crisis more conservatively.

“To increase prices creates the risk of pricing oneself out of the market,” he said. “And the worst thing I could do would be to increase prices across the board based on the cost of fuel. That’s a panic response and you can’t be constantly adjusting your prices to match your costs. It’s much smarter business to remain consistent.”
It’s that fine line between providing consistent service to clients and curbing costs that is undoubtedly the greatest concern for business owners in all industries, and it’s prompting many, like Dersarkis, to get creative in their business plans for the coming fiscal year.

BusinessWest looks this issue at the soaring prices at the pump impact area businesses, and how they respond.

“It’s killing us. We’re in the service industry, so how are we supposed to tell a customer that we just can’t deliver? We have to continue on, and we’re doing the best we can to curb our costs.”

Cost and Effect

Tom Demers, vice president of Finance and Supply Chain at Kleer Lumber in Westfield, a manufacturing company that produces plastic trimboard – an alternative to wood – said soaring oil prices touch every aspect of the business.

“Everything that goes out of here goes out on a flatbed truck,” he explained. “And as the price of oil goes up, so does the price of resin (used to make the plastic lumber Kleer manufactures).”

Those shifts in costs have prompted management at Kleer to look both externally and internally to reduce costs, reevaluate operations and procedures, and keep an even closer eye on competition, to ensure that any adjustments they do make to the company’s structure do not affect competitiveness in the marketplace.

“Everybody is feeling the burn,” Demers explained, noting that raising the cost of the company’s products will likely be part of the response to the gas quandary. “But it’s important to keep an eye on efficiency. We’re monitoring our costs quarterly … we don’t have a doomsday outlook, but we need to continue to examine ways to lower our cost base. That’s just the name of the game today.”

Scibelli concurred. He said small surcharges have been added to all deliveries — a necessary step — but the company’s response is much broader.

“Most people understand that we have to do that,” he said of the surcharges, which have been implemented by businesses ranging from cab fleets to golf courses. “But that doesn’t cover the whole nut. We can’t pass on the total cost, so naturally we have to absorb some, and that means we’re making less of a profit.”

To further address the problem, Scibelli has turned to reducing the number and length of ‘outs,’ or the number of times in a week that delivery trucks will make the rounds to their various customers in Western Mass., and asking clients to place larger orders less frequently in order to achieve that goal. Eventually, he suspects that he’ll also have to reduce his service radius, rather than expanding the business into new markets.

And, like all business owners, he’s being imaginative. “We’re utilizing UPS more than we ever did,” he explained. “That saves more than gas money – it saves the time the trucks are on the road, driver costs … it’s one example of how and why people need to really start to get creative out there.

“We’re doing OK,” he continued, “but it’s a day-to-day battle and a weekly concern. We’re just like the average consumer in that we’re chasing the best gas prices around Western Mass., too – I’m on the phone telling my drivers where to go every morning. You just have to.”

“To increase prices creates the risk of pricing oneself out of the market. And the worst thing I could do would be to increase prices across the board based on the cost of fuel. That’s a panic response and you can’t be constantly adjusting your prices to match your costs. It’s much smarter business to remain consistent.”

Small, delivery-oriented businesses like Break Time aren’t the only ones feeling a direct hit from costs at the pump, however. Those in the transportation industry are probably those feeling the crunch most immediately. Dan Crowley, vice president of Operations for Palmer Dedicated Logistics, which sells dedicated truck services to various businesses to meet their transportation needs, said his entire industry has undoubtedly been affected, although business has remained steady in the face of rising fuel costs.

“Diesel and unleaded fuel have both gone up in price, so that hurts us,” he said. “We’ve had to impose a fuel surcharge of about 45 to 50 cents on every mile run. If we tried to absorb those costs, we’d definitely be in the loss column.

“Consumers are paying those extra charges when they pay for nearly everything,” he continued. “It’s all being passed along. Business can always be better, but we’ve been able to cope … the entire economy is based on moving goods and services, and that’s not going to go away.”

Pumping for Information

Amid the general gloom over the gas-price issue there are some possible silver linings — and even some attempts to seize the moment. Indeed, businesses and organizations are urging local consumers to take advantage of local goods and services, in order to save on fuel costs and support the local economy as it weathers this, its most recent economic storm.

Bob Kaufman, owner of Bob’s Discount Furniture, has taken to the airwaves with his suggestion to local shoppers, in a recent commercial that asks them to avoid high gas prices and instead “Come on down to Bob’s.”

Meanwhile, area tourism leaders say the ugly numbers at the pump may prompt people to take in local attractions rather than hit the road for extended trips. Wayne McCary, president of the Eastern States Exposition, said he is hopeful that attendance will get a boost for this year’s fair, which runs through Oct. 2, as Northeast residents look for entertainment and travel options closer to home.

Dersarkis told BusinessWest that, in some ways, higher fuel costs actually promote more business for limo companies. He said he has seen early indications of continued health due to greater interest in chartered transportation for events both corporate and leisure in nature.

“People are starting to carpool to conventions and seminars or to Red Sox games, and splitting the cost to hire a car service rather than fill up their own gas tank,” he explained.

“It’s a day-to-day battle and a weekly concern. We’re just like the average consumer in that we’re chasing the best gas prices around Western Mass., too – I’m on the phone telling my drivers where to go every morning. You just have to.”

Pride Gasoline Stations, meanwhile, has chosen a unique approach to the issue of gasoline supply and prices in the nation overall. The company has made the proactive move of switching all of its stations over to a 90-10 mixture of traditional gasoline and ethanol, a corn-based bio-fuel. While that has little effect on prices, it does address the more global issues of petroleum supply, demand, and dependence on foreign oil, as well as that of the overall health of the U.S. economy.

“Ethanol is a renewable source of energy,” said Ellen Carra, director of marketing for Pride. “It reduces our dependence on foreign oil because it replaces crude oil, and gives work to U.S. farmers.

“Use of ethanol will cut the U.S. trade deficit by $34 billion by 2012,” Carra continued, noting that Pride is the first chain in the state to convert to a bio-fuel mixture, and 20 states in the nation already require it, including neighboring Connecticut and New York. “Pride has a commitment to fair pricing and responsible energy use and I think the two go hand in hand. As more suppliers begin to focus on changing their own tanks over to a blend, it’s going to create a real win-win for our economy.”

And Carra added that Pride gas stations don’t see themselves as on the other side of the fence of the current gas crisis; all but one of Pride’s stations include a retail component, she explained, and the rising costs of goods delivered to the stores, particularly those supplied by local vendors who cannot absorb costs as easily as larger, national companies, have indeed been felt.

“Those companies are having to tack on anywhere from $1 to $3.50 in surcharges for each delivery, and those costs definitely add up,” she explained. “This is something we’re dealing with on both fronts everyday.”

Crude Estimates

Coping, and waiting for the gas price fever to break, is what most businesses are doing today.

Taking a ‘this, too, shall pass’ attitude helps with the day-to-day struggle, said Scibelli, as does acknowledgement that the current crisis is not going to change how
people live or conduct business.

“People are just not going to stay in their homes and hide until these prices go down,” he said. “I’m a business owner, but I’m a consumer, too. I have an SUV … am I going to cancel my weekend plans? No, because when all is said and done we still need to strive for a quality of life here.”

“So my life really mirrors my business … I can’t increase what I’m doing right now, but I can do the best I can with what I have.”?

Jaclyn Stevenson can be reached at[email protected]

The Broad Impact of Fuel Price Hikes

By
Opinion
You feel it at the gas pump every day – the cost of fuel continues to rise. These increases impact the price of many products, including other fuels — and electricity, which impacts every business, large and small.

Understanding why the price of electricity fluctuates — and is currently rising — doesn’t ease the pain, but it will give business owners some important perspective, and perhaps an appreciation of how the energy business has changed over the past several years.

With the utility industry deregulated and electricity now being purchased in the competitive market as any other commodity, customers are more exposed to market volatility. As with other commodities, various factors can impact the price consumers will pay for electricity supply. Global impacts, such as the war in Iraq, the death of Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd, or threats of terrorism, will impact the market. Weather also plays a large role in pricing – clearly evident in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
Here in New England, fuel is the biggest driver of electricity pricing. Much of New England’s generating plants are powered by oil or natural gas. As these fuel prices rise and the cost to generate electricity increases, the cost for that electricity supply will also increase.

To illustrate the impact all these factors have on pricing: on August 15, electricity supply on the market was priced at 9.8 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh). The following day saw a slight dip in supply price – 9.7 cents per kWh. Two weeks later, the day Hurricane Katrina hit, the market price started out in the morning at 10.8 cents per kWh. By the day’s end, the price had increased to 11.1 cents per kWh.

Unfortunately, these factors not only play a role in pricing, but can impact the financial success, competitiveness, and economic development of our business community. Western Mass. Electric Co. (WMECO) customers who are not on competitive supply will see an impact by this market volatility in the fourth quarter pricing. Beginning Oct. 1, medium/large commercial and industrial customers (rate classes G-2, T-4, T-2, I-1, I-3, PR and Contracts) will see a fixed rate of 9.715 cents per kWh, up from a third quarter price of $7.625.

There are options to battler these rising prices, starting with conservation. WMECO can provide businesses with experience and expertise to reduce their energy usage, lower costs, and improve productivity and overall competitiveness. Through these conservation programs, the utility can also offer a variety of incentives for the installation of cost-effective, energy saving measures – in some cases, with no investment on the business’s part. From lighting upgrades to new construction, WMECO encourages its customers to contact us for more information about these programs (800-835 2707) or on the Web at www.wmeco.com and click on “How to Save Energy.”

Businesses also have option of choosing a supplier. WMECO encourages you to educate yourself on choosing a supplier, then contact the licensed suppliers in Massachusetts and evaluate the rates they are able to offer you.

As prices vary with each customer, it is often difficult to predict whether or a specific business will be able to obtain a lower price. However, suppliers may be able to offer a longer-term contract which can help companies better manage their budget and operating costs. Information to help choose a supplier and negotiate a contract as well as a list of licensed suppliers is available on the WMECO Web site, as well as through through the Department of Telecommunications and Energywww.mass.gov/dte) and the Division of Energy Resources;www.mass.gov/thepower.
While WMECO — or any utility — cannot control nor predict what occurs in the competitive market, it does make every effort to mitigate the price volatility. The utility conducts several competitive bid processes throughout the year to secure the lowest possible price available on the market at the time of bid, and it purchases blocks of supply at various times throughout the year to minimize the price impact.

The utility has also committed to keeping its distribution rates stable through 2006. For more information on WMECO rates, visit the “Basic Service Pricing” section ofwww. wmeco.com.

Rodney O. Powell is president and chief operating officer of Western Mass. Electric Co.; (413) 787-9293.

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