RECENT READER COMMENTS

Mickey,
I disagree. Congress is loaded with a mixture of fools and idiots combined with a few cunning bastards. Few true intellects. Bill's presence there would be a refreshing change.
Warren Wetherbee

Thank you for posting such a nice tribute to Al. He had been helping us at the Crandell Theatre in Chatham for the past year and we will forever owe him a huge debt of gratitude. Al was truly a one-of-a-kind guy, and I am glad someone is acknowledging his passing. I especially appreciated the pictures! Just wanted to say thank you.
Mary Gail Biebel

I'm sure I speak on behalf of Al's entire family when I say thank you for such a heartfelt piece.
Rick Bowman

This is a wonderful piece on a wonderfully unique and terrific guy. I will never forgive the Mahaiwe Theater for treating him with such a lack of respect. I believe it took a lot of the air out of Al.
Best,
Ira Transport

Great tribute to one of the many but one of the few unique characters of GB. Al was a part of entire different era of GB, one of strange stuff but plenty of great memories. On to the next feature film, Al!!!!
Frank ‘The Deli’ T

Thank you so much for this beautiful tribute. I worked with Al at the Mahaiwe many many years ago, during those cold winters with popcorn on the floors, during the wonderful film festivals, and was there to help organize and celebrate the Mahaiwe's 75th. Al was my mentor, my colleague, my friend and, for a little while, my love. My heart is breaking today.
Leslie Haywood Ceanga

This is a heart-breaker. There are so many Al Schwartz stories to be told and shared. How much we all loved that theater no matter how cold and down at heel. Al made us believe it belonged to us when not much else did. Such a loss.
Linda Small

To Captain Al:
We called each "captain" for years, years we shared with each other in a most special way. I remember my dear friend Al as tears come to my eyes. How i loved his wit, his special way of "getting to the point" with me. Calling him a reincarnation of P. T. Barnum, he would laugh but i knew that he knew what i meant. Cold nights at the Mahaiwe were always special. In the upstairs, in his haven, the projection room, we talked about everything. Our conversations, often "lively",were about baseball, the wars of this earth, life's many challenges, and food. He loved good food and drink, children, and just about anything that stirred our interests. My heart pulses as I remember watching him show my son how to throw a baseball the right way... Yes Al was a very good baseball player in his early years and he loved the game. Enjoying sumptuous meals together with my family was always a special treat. Al, you touched me and my family's life in such a profound way. I cannot thank you enough for being who you were on this earth. I and so many others will dearly miss you. This is written with great love to you. Thank you, my dear friend, for sharing your life with me.
Captain Peter

Feeling Stupid

I want to thank David Scribner for the fabulous photo that accompanies Mickey's article. Merry's boots, bag and hair perfectly match Gypsy Joynt's facade, and she & Bear are just the pair to make Mickey's point. Bravo!
Judi Kales

I think if people were given tickets for not stopping for pedestrians and pedestrians were given tickets for jaywalking, it might help alleviate the problem. I only know of one person who actually got a $100 ticket for jaywalking in GB and that was many years ago. I work on Main St. and cross it several times a day, very carefully.
Kate Kane Naylor

I find it curious that most of us are at times pedestrian and at times (often within minutes) driver, so wouldn't be mutual consideration stand to reason? Or maybe it represents our collective identity crisis?"
Lynnette Lucy Najimy

Sounds as if it has only gotten worse in GB. I was astonished to see in Berkeley, CA, that crosswalks are almost sacred and everyone slows down and stops. I say bring back the crossing guards. They knew what they were doing and with a pair of white gloves could get folks to stop. Stay safe, you pedestrians.
Linda Small

So true. You truly take your life into your own hands every time you attempt to cross the street. And the number of people that GLARE at you for using the cross walk when ITS YOUR TURN to use the street, is really appalling. And people think I'm lazy for driving from one end of the street to the other. Frankly, it's for my own personal safety!
Gretchen Ball

Mass DEP

The River: It Ain’t Over

October 2, 2012
By Mickey Friedman

A loyal reader admonished me recently: “You haven’t written about the River in a while!”

Sometimes thinking about the thirty year fight for a PCB cleanup makes me want to go to sleep for a very long time.

The story of GE and PCBs is a story about how hard it’s been to wrench the truth from those who’ve always known the true costs of PCBs. The billions made versus the uncounted costs to human and environmental health: the years the workers have lost; the healthcare costs: and the toll its taken on our waterfowl, the fish.

We worked hard to find where they dumped the PCB waste. A children’s park here; an elementary school there. Landfill by landfill, backyard by backyard. The State argued with us. The Mayor attacked us. But workers, enviromentalists, and neighbors made the GE Housatonic River site a national battleground for a comprehensive cleanup.

GE Brought A Good Thing To Life

March 10, 2011
By Mickey Friedman

Having grown up on city streets, I wouldn’t have known a vernal pool if I had fallen into one.

Today I’m writing about vernal pools because they are central to the battle about how best to clean toxic PCBs from the Housatonic River.

The Vernal Pool

Vernal pools are “ephemeral fresh-water wetlands which do not hold water permanently and are free of breeding populations of fish.” (MA Fisheries and Wildlife). Fresh water pools formed by rain and snow during the autumn and winter, but dry at other times of the year. Because there are no predator fish, many important species are born in vernal pools. These species cannot live without these critically important vernal pools. (2011 Phase 4C Floodplain Property Vernal Pool Monitoring Summary, p.1: (http://www.epa.gov/region1/ge/thesite/floodplain/reports/phase4/501650.pdf)

We’re talking about invertebrates like fairy shrimp (don’t tell Rick Santorum), daphnia, fingernail clams, water striders, and caddishflies. These inveterbrates don’t have backbones and make up 97% of all animal species. Then there are amphibians like green frogs, wood frogs, and salamanders. These “indicator species” are easy to collect and tell us what’s in the water and how it is effecting animal life.

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 >>

RED CROW NEWS

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

Along with our slightly unconventional news coverage, you'll find musings and scribblings, and comments about what we care about.

Highly subjective, our C/V/ultures will be writing about culture or the lack thereof.

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“A Red Family: Junius, Gladys & Barbara Scales” by Mickey Friedman

"An extraordinary set of reminiscences, beautifully put together by an extremely sensitive, even gifted interviewer. It is a jewel." --Glenda Gilmore, author of Defying Dixie: The Radical Roots of Civil Rights, 1919-1950

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