Pittsfield To Hire Extra Help For Pothole Season

By Andy McKeeveriBerkshires Staff
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Potholes have already formed in many city roads. And officials are expecting a whole lot more as the spring rolls in.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The city is looking to hire two additional crews to help patch potholes.
 
The city typically has about 10 people from the House of Correction and about eight in the Highway Department working on the holes. Those will be complemented by two additional crews the city will contract.
 
"We expect this year is going to be a particular challenge because of the cold," Mayor Daniel Bianchi said. "With two additional crews, we should do a bang up job."
 
The freezing temperatures of this last winter are expected to cause more frost heaving and potholes than in other years. Water soaking into the soil underneath pavement freezes and expands. When it melts, the road erodes.
 
On top of the frigid weather this winter, the city hadn't done a major repaving project on roads in the late summer and fall because the funding wasn't in place. Bianchi and the City Council hadn't come to terms on the borrowing authority in time for a late summer bid last year.
 
Bianchi says now more than $3 million in road work is expected to go bid in the coming weeks and the city is using a bump in Chapter 90 highway funds to pay for the additional pothole patching work.
 
"We hoped for the middle of February [to put the road bid out] but it looks like another week or so," he said.
 
Highway crews will be looking for the worst potholes on main roads first. Then they'll move to the neighborhood roads. The mayor says residents should report any holes they see.
 
Meanwhile, road paving construction will begin on others.
 
"Road work in the Northeast is never-ending," Bianchi said.
 
In other business, the mayor said the city is in negotiations for leasing terms on a garage for Highway Department vehicles. The previous lease had expired and the city went out to bid a second time for a new lease.

Tags: Chapter 90,   potholes,   

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Dalton Man Accused of Kidnapping, Shooting Pittsfield Man

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A Dalton man was arrested on Thursday evening after allegedly kidnapping and shooting another man.

Nicholas Lighten, 35, was arraigned in Central Berkshire District Court on Friday on multiple charges including kidnapping with a firearm and armed assault with intent to murder. He was booked in Dalton around 11:45 p.m. the previous night.

There was heavy police presence Thursday night in the area of Lighten's East Housatonic Street home before his arrest.

Shortly before 7 p.m., Dalton dispatch received a call from the Pittsfield Police Department requesting that an officer respond to Berkshire Medical Center. Adrian Mclaughlin of Pittsfield claimed that he was shot in the leg by Lighten after an altercation at the defendants home. Mclaughlin drove himself to the hospital and was treated and released with non-life-threatening injuries. 

"We were told that Lighten told Adrian to go down to his basement, where he told Adrian to get down on his knees and pulled out a chain," the police report reads.

"We were told that throughout the struggle with Lighten, Adrian recalls three gunshots."

Dalton PD was advised that Pittsfield had swabbed Mclaughlin for DNA because he reported biting Lighten. A bite mark was later found on Lighten's shoulder. 

Later that night, the victim reportedly was "certain, very certain" that Lighten was his assailant when shown a photo array at the hospital.

According to Dalton Police, an officer was stationed near Lighten's house in an unmarked vehicle and instructed to call over the radio if he left the residence. The Berkshire County Special Response Team was also contacted.

Lighten was under surveillance at his home from about 7:50 p.m. to about 8:40 p.m. when he left the property in a vehicle with Massachusetts plates. Another officer initiated a high-risk motor vehicle stop with the sergeant and response team just past Mill Street on West Housatonic Street, police said, and traffic was stopped on both sides of the road.

Lighten and a passenger were removed from the vehicle and detained. Police reported finding items including a brass knuckle knife, three shell casings wrapped in a rubber glove, and a pair of rubber gloves on him.

The response team entered Lighten's home at 43 East Housatonic before 9:30 p.m. for a protective sweep and cleared the residence before 9:50 p.m., police said. The residence was secured for crime scene investigators.

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