Letter: The Problem With Yes Vote for Greylock School

To the Editor:

I'll say it again and again, I think all the yay-sayers are missing the point of priorities in North Adams, why we moved to another town.

The brown water, the water breaks, sewage backing up in the streets, the constant flow of power outages, the huge potholes everywhere, closed roads/bridges, cement barricades left halfway in road passage ways for years, vegetation overgrowth throughout the roadsides, the multiple promises of attractions that never materialized, dilapidated buildings both city owned and privately left to rot, and on and on.

The major problem with your yes vote is no promises to fix any of these issues, just to spend more taxpayers' money, including mine when I support your local businesses with their passing on the tax burdens coming down the pike. This "average" $270 a year tax increase is only the beginning of all your increases yet to come! Because another new school is a tax liability that like the others that won't be kept up. No one will invest until they get this mess cleaned up.

Shawn Collins
Adams, Mass. 

Cheshire Hires Adams Officer as New Police Chief

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
06:00PM / Friday, August 21, 2026

Matthew Wright shakes hands with board members and Town Administrator Jennifer Morse on Friday after being offered the post. 

CHESHIRE, Mass. — Adams Police Sgt. Matthew Wright has been tapped as Cheshire's next police chief. 

 

The four present board members unanimously voted to hire him after an interview on Friday afternoon held during a special Selectmen's meeting. 

 

Wright was the only finalist for a police chief search that lasted several months. The only public who attended, other than iBerkshires, was interim Police Chief Timothy Garner and Wright's wife. 

 

The board will meet in executive session with Wright for contract negotiations then set an open session to establish a start date. 

 

Board member Scott McWhirt recused himself from the interview as he had worked with Wright in the Adams Police Department prior to his retirement in 2016.

 

Wright highlighted his deep roots in Cheshire, where he was born and raised, being a Hoosac Valley High School graduate and earning an associate degree in criminal justice from Berkshire Community College and later a bachelor's from Westfield State University.

 

Now, he is raising his own family in town, following in his father's footsteps by giving back to the community by being a volunteer coach and participates in local festivities.