Letter: Fireworks Costly, Dangerous & Toxic

To the Editor:

I wrote the paragraph below on the Williamstown Facebook page regarding this year's fireworks plans. My comments are just as applicable to every town in the county and every city across America that plans a fireworks display.

The experience of Canadian forest fires' smoke-filled air blocking out the otherwise sunny sky above should give us all pause about how we have historically celebrated the 4th with fireworks. Everything about life as we had come to expect it is now in flux: hotter summers, warmer winters, more frequent and more severe weather, rising sea levels, worsening air quality, more global pandemics. We are a caring, educated and progressive community and, as such, as we observe the disruptions to the planet that human activity is causing; isn't it time to ban the use of fireworks due to the smoke and noise pollution as well as the toxins including lead that are released into the air and which then enter our lungs, enter the ground and our water both surface and underground.

The Mount Greylock wells were contaminated by the annual fireworks displays that used to be held there. Now the college is hosting fireworks at the Taconic Golf Course. Surely the damage being done is hardly worth the expense or the hour of thrills (?) the few who attend experience. There are better totally safe and more enjoyable ways to celebrate such as a light show. The Chamber (supported by local businesses and our taxes) and the Select Board (using our tax dollars) which are paying for the show should make this the last year for fireworks and plan on a healthy, responsible, planet-friendly alternative in the future.

It is my hope that readers will recognize this appeal is to our better selves. It is not anti-American, it is pro-health, pro-environment, and pro-gressive (time for change).

I am hoping readers throughout the county will join in the effort and movement to end the costly, dangerous, and toxic displays. Many household pets are terrified of the sound and of course the wildlife in our surrounding forests are as well but they have no voice. If they could speak, they would say how damaging it is to their sensitive hearing, how terrifying for them and their young, and how badly it smells that they forage and eat plants and drink water that have been contaminated from the fallout.

What of some of those who have fought in wars for our freedom and come home with PTSD? Some of them find the loud noise and bright lights bring back traumatic memories.

In other words, there is probably only a small minority of citizens who actually enjoy the fireworks and thrill to the sounds and light. There are safe alternatives. We should honor and celebrate in a manner that doesn't add to the harm being done to the planet, wildlife, and even ourselves.
 

Paul A. Harsch III
Williamstown, Mass.

Lanesborough Officials Review Schools' Budgets

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
05:49AM / Thursday, April 09, 2026

Mount Greylock Superintendent Joseph Bergeron, left, addresses the Lanesborough Select Board and Finance Committee as School Committee member Curtis Elfenbein looks at the projection of a slide in the district's budget presentation.

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — Town officials Monday appeared generally receptive to the fiscal year 2027 spending plans for the two public school districts that serve the town.

 

Superintendents from the Northern Berkshire Vocational Regional School District (McCann Technical School) and Mount Greylock Regional School District presented their respective FY27 budgets to a joint meeting of the town's Finance Committee and Select Board.

 

Both districts are sending significantly higher assessments for approval at Lanesborough's annual town meeting in June.

 

McCann Tech, which constituted a $317,109 expenditure for the town in the current fiscal year, is seeking $463,978 for the fiscal year that begins on July 1 even though the school's operating budget is up just 3.2 percent year to year.

 

The 46 percent increase in Lanesborough's share of McCann Tech's budget is is due to two factors: a rise in enrollment of town residents at the vocational school from 20 in 2025 to 29 in this school year and a capital assessment for the first round of payments — for interest only — for a roof and window replacement project on the North Adams campus.

 

The Mount Greylock assessment, a much larger component of Lanesborough's property tax bill, is up 10.99 percent from FY26 to FY27, from $6.8 million to $7.6 million.

 

Mount Greylock Superintendent Joseph Bergeron gave a budget presentation similar to one he has delivered twice to the district's School Committee and again last month to the Williamstown Finance Committee, explaining that while the FY27 budget maintains level services to students with a net reduction of three positions, a series of factors are driving much larger assessments to Mount Greylock's two member towns.