Earth Day Walk and Discussion Planned Along the Hoosic River

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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — A walk and discussion event concerning the Hoosic River will be held on Thursday, April 17, from 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM.

The event is organized in recognition of Earth Day.

Participants are invited to walk along the river and discuss any questions, concerns, or hopes they have for the Hoosic River. The gathering point will be at The Spruces in Williamstown, MA, in the parking lot adjacent to the garden, at 5:00 PM.

The event will be facilitated by Arianna Alexsandra Collins, a naturalist educator and the executive director of the Hoosic River Watershed Association (HooRWA).

 

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Coach John T. Allen Remembered for More than Just Wins

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — John Agostini says his high school football coach was the most important influence in his life except for Agostini's own parents.
 
And, like a good parent, John T. Allen knew how to push the right buttons.
 
For Agostini, that moment came not long after Allen made the Mount Greylock Regional School eighth-grader feel special by inviting him to be the only member of his class to play on the varsity team.
 
"After football season had ended, I encountered a different John Allen, an angry John Allen," Agostini recalled on Wednesday morning. "I was in the very small weight room we had at Greylock at that time. I vividly remember John Allen entered the weight room. He had fire in his eyes. And, worse yet, he had rolled up papers in his hands.
 
"The papers were a list of people who were on the honor roll. While waving those papers at me as if they were a tomahawk, he informed me that my sister's name was on that list. My name was not. Coach then proceeded to go up one side of me and down the other without giving me a chance to respond. He then stopped and, in a much calmer voice, he said something that hurt me more than anything else. He told me he was, 'disappointed,' in me. Coach Allen was not somebody I wanted to disappoint.
 
"At that moment, John Allen absolutely ruined my day. But looking back after all these years, I understand something: He may have ruined my day, but, in a very real sense, he gave me my life."
 
Agostini, a 1971 Mount Greylock graduate who served more than 20 years as a Superior Court judge, delivered the eulogy for Allen, who coached football at Mount Greylock for 39 years.
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