Taconic High Grad Brings Musical Advantage to Ephs

By Dick QuinnWilliams Sports Info
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Caroline Sinico regularly sings the national anthem before men's basketball games at Williams College, where she is studying music.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Usually within the first 10 seconds of Caroline Sinico's rendition of the national anthem, visiting men's basketball fans, players, coaches and referees start stealing glances at her.

By the time the Williams junior reaches "and the rocket's red glare," the visiting crowd is clearly impressed. When she concludes with "and the home of the brave," both the visiting and home fans know they have been treated to a stirring rendition of national anthem.

Customarily Sinico will get a high five from Eph head basketball coach Mike Maker when she finishes, but now it is also the visiting head coach and the referees offering congratulations with nods, thumbs up or handshakes.

"Caroline's rendition of the national anthem brings a great deal of pride to our program, institution and community," said Maker. "Her talent inspires us all, including the visiting teams. Clearly, she has had a major impact on Chandler's electric atmosphere."

The Pittsfield native is studying Western Classical music at Williams, while also participating in the concert and chamber choirs. She was singing long before she entered Williams, and performed not only the national anthem at her Taconic High School graduation but also her valedictory "speech."



Sinico has added the singing the "Star-Spangled Banner" outdoors to her resume performing before home football games the past two years. The same appreciative glances and congratulations she receives in Chandler Gym have followed her to Weston Field.

Make no mistake about it – Sinico is a singer. Recently, she had to miss three men's basketball games because she was singing in a professional opera company's presentation of "La Traviata" in Schenectady, N.Y.

Two years ago, a representative from the city of Salem, Va., was on hand for the game that sent the Eph men's basketball team to the Final Four in Salem. The representative had the foresight to tape Sinico singing and next thing you know she was invited to sing the national anthem before the 2011 NCAA Division III Championship game.

Sinico hopes to make a career out of singing opera after Williams. She is profiled on the new Williams Arts page

iBerkshires staff contributed to this report.


Tags: basketball,   music,   Taconic High,   Williams College,   

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EPA Lays Out Draft Plan for PCB Remediation in Pittsfield

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

Ward 4 Councilor James Conant requested the meeting be held at Herberg Middle School as his ward will be most affected. 

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — U.S. The Environmental Protection Agency and General Electric have a preliminary plan to remediate polychlorinated biphenyls from the city's Rest of River stretch by 2032.

"We're going to implement the remedy, move on, and in five years we can be done with the majority of the issues in Pittsfield," Project Manager Dean Tagliaferro said during a hearing on Wednesday.

"The goal is to restore the (Housatonic) river, make the river an asset. Right now, it's a liability."

The PCB-polluted "Rest of River" stretches nearly 125 miles from the confluence of the East and West Branches of the river in Pittsfield to the end of Reach 16 just before Long Island Sound in Connecticut.  The city's five-mile reach, 5A, goes from the confluence to the wastewater treatment plant and includes river channels, banks, backwaters, and 325 acres of floodplains.

The event was held at Herberg Middle School, as Ward 4 Councilor James Conant wanted to ensure that the residents who will be most affected by the cleanup didn't have to travel far.

Conant emphasized that "nothing is set in actual stone" and it will not be solidified for many months.

In February 2020, the Rest of River settlement agreement that outlines the continued cleanup was signed by the U.S. EPA, GE, the state, the city of Pittsfield, the towns of Lenox, Lee, Stockbridge, Great Barrington, and Sheffield, and other interested parties.

Remediation has been in progress since the 1970s, including 27 cleanups. The remedy settled in 2020 includes the removal of one million cubic yards of contaminated sediment and floodplain soils, an 89 percent reduction of downstream transport of PCBs, an upland disposal facility located near Woods Pond (which has been contested by Southern Berkshire residents) as well as offsite disposal, and the removal of two dams.

The estimated cost is about $576 million and will take about 13 years to complete once construction begins.

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