David Scribner

Great Barrington and the Arming of America

February 7, 2013
By David Scribner

Political fortitude appears to be in short supply among the members of the Great Barrington Board of Selectmen. Shortly after the horrific killing of 20 Newtown, Connecticut elementary school children – mostly first graders – and six adults at the hands of a disturbed young man with access to a military style semi-automatic rifle, Barrington selectmen expressed understandable sympathy for the parents of the victims and recalled that precisely 20 years ago Great Barrington was itself the site of gun-driven violence.

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A Brief Apology

We are sorry crows, aware we have been derelict in our duties. DS Red Crow has been hard at work editing a newsweekly, raising his children and writing a play. BS Red Crow has been doing his best to transform politics as we know it by running a valiant campaign for Congress, and I, MF Red Crow, am editing a documentary film on jazz pianist, singer, composer Bob Dorough, the musical man behind “Schoolhouse Rock.”

Here are a few columns from the most recent past.

We look forward to red crowing in the near future.

It’s Not Me; It’s My Wife

February 12, 2012
By David Scribner

HOUSATONIC, MA – Like everyone else, I was surprised to learn that Sandra Muss, a painter and wife of Stephen Muss, the Florida-based developer and would-be savior of Housatonic, was buying the Barbieri mill building — and even more startled and dismayed that a condition of the sale was that the Berkshire Pulse Center for the Creative Arts would have to move out by the end of February.

Hip Hop Class at Berkshire Pulse, Barbieri Mill, Housatonic MA

After all, although Sandra Muss had a studio in the building, surely she didn’t need the whole building, at least right away, and besides she and her husband had once told me how much they valued Pulse as a component of the cultural life of Housatonic and South Berkshire.

I suppose, if she owned the real estate, she would do what she wanted.

So I called up Stephen Muss to find out what was going on.

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EPA: No Pressure from White House on Rest-of-River Cleanup

By David Scribner
October 23, 2011

A major section of the Rest of the River - from the confluence to Woods Pond.

LENOX – Even as the state Department of Environmental Protection presses ahead with its campaign for a minimal cleanup of (PCBs) from the Housatonic River floodplain, the federal Environmental Protection Agency, which will have the final say on the cleanup approach and scope, is denying claims that it is under pressure from the White House to adopt the state’s less invasive criteria.

“This is simply not true,” declared EPA Region 1 Administrator Curt Spalding. He said that the agency was not under political pressure to “choose a Housatonic River cleanup plan that won’t protect the health of people or the environment in Berkshire County.”

In a prepared statement, he continued: “I have stated repeatedly that the EPA’s guiding principal as we identify a cleanup plan for the Housatonic is that we will rely on the best scientific evidence to determine what measures need to be taken to ensure that we are protecting peoples’ health and restoring the Housatonic to good ecological health. I remain committed to an open, inclusive and transparent process that is allowing the communities of the Berkshires to weigh in with their concerns and priorities for the Housatonic River.” READ MORE >>

Tribute to 9/11 victims recreated at Monument Mountain

By David Scribner
September 5, 2011

“It was one of the most overwhelming, and powerful things I’ve ever done, bringing people together that way in the face of a tragedy,” recalled Monument Regional High School science instructor Lisa Baldwin.

She was referring to how ten years ago, in response to the attack on the World Trade Center, she helped organize the high school community to create of a 112 by 70 foot American flag painted on the embankment in front of Great Barrington’s regional school on U.S. Route 7 – a tribute visible to thousands of passersby each day.

Photo Courtesy of Ogden Gigli

 

It took three days to complete, working day and night, to stake out the grid for the stars and stripes, and paint the red white and blue. Hundreds of people pulled over to watch.

“It moved me so much to turn such a tragedy that had affected our students and our community, into something celebrating our freedom and our way of life,” Baldwin said.
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Riding The Rails

By David Scribner
August 30, 2011

Restoring rail passenger service to the New York Metropolitan Area would provide a major boost to the Berkshire economy, both during the reconstruction of the rail line and into the future, as energy efficient access to the Berkshires promotes increased travel, raises property values and encourages the establishment of satellite business operations of New York firms.

Berkshire Railroad's cars are ready to go, waiting patiently in Housatonic MA

Over the next decade, a year-long economic impact study has concluded, the passenger service would pump $625 million into the region abutting the rail line, extending from Danbury, Conn., north to the Berkshires. Of that, $240 million would be realized within the Berkshires, along with the addition of more than 300 jobs.

“The potential benefits of the passenger rail service are substantial,” explained Williams College economist Stephen C. Sheppard, who developed the assessment on behalf of the Canaan, Conn.-based Housatonic Railroad that owns the rail corridor. “The value of the benefits is large compared to the investment. Projects like this have the potential to revive the fortunes of what was once a threadbare manufacturing region by providing the means to establish a diverse, modern economic base.”

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Playing Through Irene

Editor’s Note: Unlike the rest of the media — national, regional, local, electronic, and print or the lack thereof — the intrepid Red Crow News staff opted not to add to the possible strain on local first responders by remaining safely indoors. Vigilant but out of harm’s way. Once the all-clear signal was received, Red Crow’s own David Scribner headed to the links just in case.

By David Scribner
August 29. 2011

In Stockbridge this Sunday, not everyone was hunkered down in their survival bunkers during The Hurricane Diablo named Irene that courted the Berkshires with windsong and a swirling curtain of rain.

No indeed, some played in the rain, enjoying its warm wetness as if in a natural shower. Some strolled along Main Street, gawking at the Housatonic overflowing its banks, making a churning lake out of the Stockbridge golf course. Only the backs of benches, peeking above the torrent, indicated the location of submerged tees.

And others played through.

Jean Rousseau Plays Through Irene at Stockbridge MA Golf Course

Like Jean Rousseau of Glendale. Retrieving his golf clubs from an inundated club house, he paused, in the misty rain. He regarded the tee, a green island. He took off his golf shoes and dark blue socks. He pulled his driver out of his bag, fetched a ball and tee from the pocket of his white pants. He sloshed through the foaming current to tee up one last shot — barefoot. It wasn’t bad, considering the conditions. He had blasted a drive several hundred yards into the brown water that a day earlier had been a manicured green fairway.

Jean Rousseau: On The Brown/Green/Blue in Two - Golfing with Irene at Stockbridge, MA

Satisfied, he slipped his driver into his bag and went home.

Ed May Calls Third Strike on Gary O’Brien’s Roger Road

By David Scribner
July 27, 2011

GREAT BARRINGTON – For the third time in the last seven months, Gary O’Brien’s landscaping and construction operation on Roger Road has been found to be in violation of the town’s residential zoning bylaws – and has been ordered to cease operations.

Roger Road Site - Photo: Ed May

This time, however, resolution of the dispute will be determined in open session by the Zoning Board of Appeals rather than in closed-door conferences with lawyers.

Following two early morning inspections on July 8 and July 11, Building Inspector Edwin May once again issued a cease-and-desist citation, noting that O’Brien had failed to bring his activities into compliance with a June 23 cease-and-desist citation.

“There was no attempt to abate the issues,” May said. “He is still operating as a contractor’s yard which is not allowed. There were at least 10 vehicles parked there.”

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Scribner on the Great Barrington Library: Of Books, Boards, and Battles

By David Scribner
July 5, 2011

When a political fray becomes nasty, petty, brutish and unkind – to rephrase Thomas Hobbes — the better part of valor, sometimes, is to withdraw gracefully from the field of battle.

That is the tact Great Barrington’s Director of Libraries Anne Just has taken, announcing her retirement as of August, in the wake of the dust-up between the new leadership of the Library Board of Trustees, bent on reasserting its authority over library personnel, and Town Manager Kevin O’Donnell whose post the charter designates as the supervisor of town departments, the library being one of them.

Karin Beebe, President of Library Board of Trustees at Selectmen's Meeting. Her husband, George Beebe, is seated nearby.

When Karin Beebe last month became president of the Board of Library Trustees – a rank that had before her ascension been called chairman – she informed the Board of Selectmen at a June 13 selectmen’s meeting that the Library Trustees intended to assume the authority for the hiring and firing of the library director.

In response, the selectmen reminded her that it would take a vote of the annual Town Meeting and an arduous review, plus an act of the state Legislature, to modify the town charter in order to resolve the differences between the Library Trustees’ charter and the town’s.

This matter could have been framed as an advocacy for an independent library system, a nonpartisan bastion of recorded wisdom governed by an elected board of trustees, insulated from the influences of town politics in order to protect the integrity of the library’s collection.

Unfortunately, such high-mindedness has not yet to become a factor in the discussion. So far, it is simply an argument about the exercise of power and who’s entitled to it, based upon an inconsistency between the library’s and the town’s charters. READ MORE >>

Pixley to VA Hospital

By David Scribner
June 28, 2011

David A. Pixley, the Great Barrington resident who last week allegedly set fire to two downtown buildings and had prepared to set ablaze five others and three vehicles, will now be receiving treatment for a chronic psychological condition at a Veterans Affairs hospital outside Northampton.

In a court hearing Monday, Judge Bethzaida Sanabria-Vega remanded the 62-year-old Great Barrington native for treatment at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Leeds, where he will be confined to a lock-down unit.

David Pixley during his arraignment - Photo: David Scribner

Pixley has so far not been in a condition where he can enter a plea – or have a plea entered for him – on the 10 counts of arson and attempted arson.

His son, attorney David Pixley of Pittsfield, noted that his father, who served in Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, from 1969 through 1975, and had reached the rank of sergeant, had received an honorable discharge for a psychological disability. He was stationed on Okinawa, where he was a maintenance expert, and did not see combat duty.

A week before his arrest last Wednesday night, Pixley had spent eight weeks in Jones II, the psychological treatment ward of Berkshire Medical Center. It was at that facility that he had received, prior to his release, a new regimen of medicine for his condition, according to court assigned physician, Dr. Roger Goldin, director for forensic services. It was that change of medicine to treat a bipolar disorder, Goldin said, that exacerbated Pixley’s unstable mental state.

Pixley was a regular customer at Fuel Coffee House on Main Street in Great Barrrington where he was described by patrons as a quiet, unassuming artist who had planned to exhibit his work in the coffee shop gallery.

Suspect Arraigned in GB Arson Case

by Red Crow News Staff
June 23, 2011

David Pixley being arraigned Thursday afternoon, June 23, 2011

GREAT BARRINGTON — David Pixley, 62, of 20 Hollenbeck Ave., Great Barrington was charged today with 10 criminal counts — two of arson, five of “attempting to burn buildings,” and three of “attempting to burn vehicles.” Held since last night on $50,000 bail, after his arraignment he was sent to the Berkshire House of Correction in Pittsfield until Monday, when another hearing on his case will be held to determine his competency.

Red Crow’s David Scribner attended today’s arraignment hearing in Great Barrington. Here is his report:

The Commonwealth provided probable cause for holding David Pixley until Monday, when police officers can testify.

It is alleged that Pixley was seen behind TD North bank last night, carrying a tire and a bag with flammable liquid. He was allegedly dressed in the same manner as the man captured by surveillance cameras on Tuesday night, setting or preparing to set fires in the rear of several stores, including Barrington Outfitters and the Gypsy Joynt.

Pixley allegedly ran and the police gave chase, eventually ending up at Pixley’s apartment at 20 Hollenbeck, several blocks from the downtown area. And that’s where they arrested him about 2:00 a.m.

It turns out that he was recognized by one of the officers, Victor Zucco, who at one time had lived in Pixley’s apartment building.

David Pixley’s son informed us that his father had recently had his medication for bipolar disorder changed to an experimental medicine. This change was prescribed at the Jones III mental-health facility in Pittsfield, where the younger Pixley had picked up his father on June 16.

 

David Pixley, left, and his son David

He said he believed his father’s behavior could be attributed to the change in medicine and dosage.

At the arraignment before Judge Michael Mulcahy in Southern Berkshire District Court, David Pixley was represented by attorney Rick LeBlanc.

 

Local News: A Tree Farm, A Dump, & A Town Manager


GREAT BARRINGTON, MA

It wasn’t what I had expected to hear. It wasn’t what I wanted to know.

At a Memorial Day weekend picnic with friends from Great Barrington and beyond, Judith Kales said to me: “They started up again. This morning. Early. Sunday. Can you believe it?”

She was referring to the construction and excavation business situated next to her home on Blue Hill Road, an operation that has been under a cease and desist order from Great Barrington’s Building Inspector Ed May for nearly a year.

Click here to read the rest of the story.

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An online newsmagazine based in the Berkshire Hills of Western Massachusetts, Red Crow News covers what's happening and what we hope will happen.

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