Letter: Bond for Mayor

To the Editor:

I support Lynette Bond as North Adams' next mayor. I trust her experience and personal sensibilities, and believe her leadership would provide a breath of new life to the city.

Lynette Bond has been criticized as not being "from North Adams." This criteria sometimes is seen as between those lifers who "know what North Adams needs" versus those new arrivals having new ideas, new blood, and a vision to make change. I believe Lynette Bond will bring people who have lived here since birth AND those who arrive with the energy, excitement to participate in helping make this small city shine.

Lynette served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras in the business development sector. Her service is a show of the commitment she will bring to our city. I also served in the Peace Corps in the Philippines, and understand how that two-year submersion into another culture makes one a stronger, more resilient, and an understanding person.

I strongly endorse Lynette Bond for mayor of North Adams. She brings the needed skills, passion and a deep connection to our city.

Michael Bedford
North Adams, Mass. 

Northern Berkshire United Way: 1980s Sees Double the Growth, Double the Need

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
05:16AM / Monday, July 13, 2026

Northern Berkshire United Way is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. Each month, we will take a look back at the agency's milestones over the decades. 

 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Northern Berkshire United Way rolled through the "Me Decade" on a high. 

 

The "Massachusetts Miracle" ushered in a boomtime — despite gloomy local indicators like the relocation of Sprague Electric, loss of Adams Print Works in a massive blaze, and Photech's bankruptcy.

 

The agency failed to reach its fundraising goals only two times during the decade even as the region's needs grew. For the first time, homelessness and substance abuse were listed among its allocations.

 

Fundraising grew by leaps and bounds as critical human service relief agencies asked for more. An estimated 36,000 people in North County were being served by the agency's affiliates. The funds went to support between 14 and 17 agencies over the decade for health services, youth support, mental health, child care, and family needs. 

 

NBUW was making enough toward the end of the 1980s that it could provide help to nonmembers such as the Dalton Community Chest, a rape crisis center and two homelessness initiatives. It also worked with the Piton Foundation of Colorado on venture funding, including for a peer mentoring program at Drury High School 

 

Mary G. Dailey had given her first dollar to the original Community Chest in 1935 as a worker at Arnold Print Works. As keynote speaker at the 1981 kick off, she credited North Berkshire's generosity as "enthusiasm."

 

"I'm all for enthusiasm," she told the 150 gathered at the Eagles Hall that fall, with her sister, Catherine, as toastmaster. "No other characteristic, with the possible exception of kindness, has contributed so much to happy and successful living."