Registry Could Move to Main Street

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
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The building at 33 Main St. once housed Roberts Co. and later MindBranch.
NORTH ADAMS - The Registry of Motor Vehicles  is looking for new quarters because a courier couldn't get to Boston in time.

A proposal has been filed with the city to move the registry into the former Roberts Co. building on Main Street, not far from where it used to be located.

"That's a possibility," Charles W. Fox, owner of the registry's current home at 420 Curran Highway, said on Tuesday. "The lawyer's courier got to Boston 20 minutes too late to submit our proposal ... observing the letter of the law, they wouldn't accept it."

The registry's lease on Curran Highway is up Friday and the state had put out a request for proposals, the standard bidding process, said registry spokeswoman Ann Dufresne on Monday.

Dufresne said she couldn't comment further on the future location of the North Adams office. She did say that any relocation would have to meet all local regulations.

Scarafoni Associates, which owns the Main Street building, is requesting a change of use from a private office to allow the registry to occupy approximately half of the 5,000-square-foot usable space on the first floor. The registry would be located in about 2,500 square feet of space along the back of the building.

A hallway separating the registry from another area for retail/office space in the front of the building would allow access from Marshall Street and from off Main Street. There are no plans to change the exterior.

In a letter accompanying the application, David E. Carver, managing partner of Scarafoni Associates, noted that "the registry was in the downtown for more than 20 years" and should not significantly affect traffic in terms of parking or road tests.


The registry had been housed in the structure immediately behind the Berkshire Bank, along Center Street. Since then, the demolition of Sculley's Tavern next to it had created 15 more parking spaces, Carver wrote. Pedestrian traffic is estimated at 100 per day, or 12.33 an hour.

An employee at Scarafoni who declined to be identified said "nothing is set in concrete, nothing is written in stone" regarding the move. Carver, reached Wednesday, said the bids were submitted in October.

The proposal is scheduled to go before the Planning Board on Monday, March 10, at 6 p.m. in the City Council chambers.

Fox said he had signed an agreement with the registry on Tuesday to extend its lease through the end of 2008. The Williamstown real estate developer and partner Gordon Leete bought the Curran Highway property last year with hopes of turning the former K-K Home Mart building and its three acres into a centralized location for public service and professional offices, with the registry as the anchor.

He didn't think it was a good idea to move the registry downtown because the current location offers plentiful parking and easy access for traffic - something a matter of 20 minutes shouldn't change.

"We have to hope that practicality will prevail," said Fox.

Edited with new material on Feb. 28, 2008.
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Armed North Adams Man Arrested Following Domestic Standoff

Staff Reports

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Matthew Parker, a 44-year-old North Adams man, is set to face multiple counts of attempted murder and weapons charges in Northern Berkshire District Court on Friday morning following an hours-long, armed standoff at a Houghton Street home.

The defendant is being arraigned for:

  • Domestic Assault and Battery
  • Assault with the Intent to Murder (3 counts)
  • Carrying a Firearm While Under the Influence of Alcohol (3 counts)
  • Possession of a hi-capacity firearm (4 counts)
  • Improper Storage of a hi-capacity firearm (2 counts)
  • Improper Storage of a firearm (6 counts)

According to a report, on June 10, at approximately 8:42 p.m., officers responded to 365 Houghton St. following a report of a domestic assault and battery. The caller said she and her husband had been involved in a physical altercation.

She said her husband was intoxicated, making suicidal statements about shooting himself, and had access to both a shotgun and a pistol.

Upon arrival, officers made contact with both the caller and Parker. During the encounter, Parker threatened to shoot officers before retreating into the home and refusing to exit.

Officers believed that Parker was armed.

To ensure public safety, police established a perimeter around the home and requested assistance from the Berkshire County Special Response Team (SRT) and North Adams Police crisis negotiators. The Brien Center was also contacted and promptly provided an emergency mental health clinician to assist with the incident.

Special Response Team personnel deployed drones to monitor the residence and provide aerial illumination. During the operation, officers saw Parker exit the house carrying a rifle. He pointed it at the drones, stated a report. Parker subsequently pointed the rifle toward several officers positioned behind their cruisers. After officers attempted to de-escalate the situation, Parker returned inside the residence.

Trained crisis negotiators maintained communication with Parker for several hours in an effort to peacefully resolve the situation. At approximately 2 a.m., Parker ceased communication with negotiators.

Drone operators later observed Parker unconscious in a recliner on the first floor of the residence, with a rifle and shotgun on the floor nearby.

Members of the Berkshire County SRT then executed a coordinated operation. Diversionary devices were deployed through a window while an entry team simultaneously entered the home, secured the firearms, and took the defendant into custody.

A search warrant was executed after Parker was in custody. North Adams Police seized four shotguns, six rifles, two handguns, and thousands or rounds of ammunition from the home.

During the operation, one SRT member sustained a minor injury related to a less-lethal bean bag deployment. Parker also sustained non-life threatening injuries during the arrest and was transported to Berkshire Medical Center for medical evaluation.

"We thank the community for its patience and cooperation throughout this incident, particularly residents in the affected area who complied with temporary shelter-in-place requests," Police Chief Mark Bailey said.  "The North Adams Police Department extends its sincere appreciation to the agencies that provided mutual aid and assisted by handling calls for service during this incident. We are especially grateful to the Berkshire County Special Response Team for its professional and decisive response, the Brien Center for the rapid deployment of a mental health clinician, and our crisis negotiators whose efforts helped maintain dialogue and contributed significantly to the safe resolution of this incident."

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