Letter: No 'No King Day' in Williamstown

Letter to the Editor11:20AM / Monday, October 20, 2025Print Story | Email Story

To the Editor:

Apparently, there was no scheduled "No Kings Day" rally in Williamstown, the home of Williams College.

So ..... I took my sign and my trusty chair and sat on the lawn outside the Williamstown traffic oval just before the library's entrance.

My sign was small, but it slowed most of the speeding traffic. Got a couple of honks. I also put my signs in my Jeep's windows in the library's parking lot.

I sat there for about two hours. One elderly couple stopped looking for the rally that had been held at Field Park inside the oval at the previous No Kings rally. Alas, there was only me and my sign. A couple riding on a tandem bike holding a No Kings sign waved as they passed, presumably on their way to the North Adams protest. A family of three children excitedly crossed the road to visit the town's historic 1753 House.

I also noted that none of the trees inside the circle had changed color. Was it due to traffic air pollution?

As all the many vehicles drove by, I played a game identifying each vehicle's brand name. Many Subarus, etc. Then my game morphed into: As soon as I would see three of the same brand in a row, I could head to the library to warm up. The winner was Toyota.

The Williamstown "No Kings Day" protest had ended.

Kenneth Swiatek
Williamstown Mass.

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Williamstown Select Board Plans Off-Camera Evaluation of Town Manager

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
05:24AM / Friday, October 09, 2026

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Select Board plans to take extraordinary measures to avoid having its discussion of the town manager's performance recorded by the town's Public, Educational and Government cameras.

At its Sept. 28 meeting, the board decided to hold a special meeting in a room not covered by WilliNet cameras to complete its annual evaluation process of Town Manager Robert Menicocci.

Chair Peter Beck said that while the evaluation is "absolutely" to be conducted in an open meeting, the board could follow a process similar to the off site, unrecorded meetings that past Select Boards have characterized as "retreats," a term not contemplated by or included in the commonwealth's Open Meeting Law.

The current board met on June 29 for what it characterized as a "planning session" where no formal votes were taken. That meeting was held outside of Town Hall, at the new fire station on Main Street, in a room equipped with audio and video recording equipment that the Select Board chose not to use.

At the Sept. 28 meeting, one board member indicated that an unrecorded meeting was preferable to discuss the annual evaluation of the one town employee supervised by the board.

"I'd like to do it without all the Willinet stuff," Stephanie Boyd said in a discussion toward the end of a two-hour meeting. "I think it's more conducive to conversation."

With the board expected to meet just once in October — its "regular" meeting date coincides with Indigenous Peoples Day on Oct. 12 — Beck suggested that the panel could find a date for a special meeting, suggesting the third Monday of the month, Oct. 19.

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