Letter: Get Information About Dangers of Youth Vaping

To the Editor:

The start of the school year and new routines brings new worries about teen vaping. These concerns are important, especially now, because smoking and vaping may put people at higher risk of complications from COVID-19.

One in three Massachusetts teens vape and talking with young people about the dangers of vaping can make a difference. Learn more and watch videos at GetOutraged.org, part of a public information campaign from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Get Outraged! aims to spread the word that vaping products contain nicotine, can damage a teen's developing brain, and are addictive. The campaign also shares tips on talking with kids about vaping and resources to help them quit.

Get Outraged! complements "Facts. No Filters." a campaign with videos and information about vaping for youth at mass.gov/vaping by the Department of Public Health in collaboration with the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation.

In addition, handouts about vaping and quit resource cards for youth are available free of charge at the Massachusetts Health Promotion Clearinghouse.

For more information and to help you educate young people about vaping, contact Joyce Brewer at the Berkshire Tobacco-Free Community Partnership, jbrewer@berkshireahec.org
 

Joyce Brewer
Dalton, Mass.

Joyce Brewer is the program manager for the Berkshire Tobacco Free Community Partnership of Berkshire AHEC.

North Adams Man Charged in Stabbing Father to Death

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
12:46PM / Tuesday, May 12, 2026

Berkshire District Attorney Timothy Shugrue describes the murder as a tragedy, saying the lack of mental health care is leading to 'awful situations.'

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Police walked into a "brutal scene" Monday — 67-year-old David Allen Boucher had been stabbed multiple times and left for dead the week before. 

 

His son, David Louis Boucher, 48, had walked into the police station at 11:49 a.m. and told police he had killed his father. 

 

"The victim had been stabbed multiple times, with different objects, sharp objects," said Berkshire District Attorney Timothy Shugrue after Boucher's arraignment for murder on Tuesday morning. "Multiple wounds. Struggle in the bedroom, struggle in the kitchen. The decedent struggled and fought hard. It was a brutal scene."

 

The attack is believed to have happened on Tuesday, May 5, based on initial evidence including the state of the body and statements made by the defendant, according to the DA's Office.

 

Boucher had not-guilty pleas entered on his behalf and he is being held without bail at the prosecution's request. He is being held at the Berkshire County House of Correction and is scheduled to appear again in Northern Berkshire District Court on June 12.

 

Shugrue said it was unclear why Boucher waited a week to inform police but noted the investigation is barely 24 hours old. 

 

The younger Boucher lived downstairs and his father upstairs in the multi-unit family home on Walnut Street.