No Contested Town Races Shaping Up in Williamstown

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — With two weeks left to gather signatures on nomination papers, there are no contested elections shaping up for the May 12 town election.
 
And there is one post for which no one has expressed an interest in serving.
 
Two current members of the Select Board have pulled nomination papers to run for seats on the body, the town clerk reported on Tuesday morning.
 
Stephanie Boyd, who is concluding her first three-year term on the five-person body, has taken out nomination papers.
 
Shana Dixon, who was elected last May to fill the final year of an unexpired term, is running for a full three-year term.
 
The board currently has four members after it chose not to appoint a replacement for Jeffrey Johnson last year. The final year of his unexpired term will be determined by voters this spring. So far, the only resident to pull papers for that post is Nate Budington, who serves on the Historical Commission and is that body's representative on the Community Preservation Committee.
 
None of the three potential candidates for the Select Board have returned papers with the required 30 signatures to get a spot on the May ballot.
 
One resident, Michael Sussman, has returned papers with signatures for one of three two open seats on Milne Public Library Board of Trustees. Martin Mitsoff also has taken out papers.
 
Finally, the incumbent up for re-election on the Planning Board, Roger Lawrence, has taken out papers but has not returned them as of Tuesday morning.
 
As of early this week, no one had pulled papers for an open spot on the town's Housing Authority.
 
Nomination papers are available from the town clerk's office at Town Hall. Papers with the required 30 signatures of town residents are due on Tuesday, March 24, at 5 p.m.
 
The deadline to register to vote in the town election is May 1 at 5 p.m.

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Williamstown Select Board OK's 'Heroes' Banners, Names Skate Park for Max Rothschild

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires.com Sports
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – The Select Board Monday voted, 4-1, to allow the Hometown Heroes banners program, joining several other communities around North Berkshire.
 
The vote finalized a conversation that began at the board’s Sept. 14 meeting.
 
As happened two weeks ago, several residents spoke from the floor of the meeting to raise concerns that the banners send the wrong message by glorifying the military and promoting military service to young members of the community.
 
Unlike two weeks ago, however, more people turned out Monday to urge the board to accept the plan to hang the Hometown Hero banners on utility poles around town between Memorial Day and Veterans Day starting in the spring of 2027.
 
One of those supporting the banners was the former chair of the Berkshire Democratic Brigades, who told the board that the banners are one small way communities like Williamstown can help make up for a “blemish” on the nation.
 
Sherwood Guernsey reminded the board members that the thousands of men and women who made the sacrifice to serve in the Vietnam War were not, by and large, honored for their service in their own time.
 
“When soldiers came back after incredibly difficult conditions … what happened in this country?” he asked. “I remember so well that it was extremely quiet when they came back, to say the least. There weren’t any crowds supporting them. There weren’t any parades saying, ‘Yes, you fought for this country.’ Whether I believed in that war or not, and I did disagree with that war.
 
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