Dalton Town Employees Gets ADA Training

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
10:49AM / Saturday, March 16, 2024Print Story | Email Story

DALTON, Mass. — Municipal employees will have the option to participate in Americans with Disabilities Act training.

ADA coordinator Alyssa Maschino informed the ADA Committee on Monday that Town Manager Thomas Hutcheson approved the idea and is currently in the planning process.

The virtual training will cover state ADA requirements, ensuring program accessibility for people with disabilities, and the reasonable modification process.

The training is led by Julia O'Leary, general counsel for Massachusetts Office on Disability. The Office on Disability "provides information, guidance, and training on disability-related civil rights and obligations," the state website says.

A lot of people are used to being able to walk upstairs and being mobile, so they are not thinking about how their surroundings affect people with mobile disabilities, committee member Edward "Bud" Hall said.

This will give town employees a better understanding of what is compliant and what is not,

"A lot of people are just used to the everyday walking upstairs, running into the building, not thinking about, what about the other person that can't do it. So this just will probably give them insight and hopefully helping

Maschino and Hutcheson are considering holding the training during the monthly staff meeting on the third Wednesday of each month.

Although the training is an hour and "I feel like everyone should really take the time to do it" it is unclear if the town can make it mandatory, Maschino said.

In other news, the committee signed a letter recommending the town install sidewalks on Orchard Road.

Tags: ADA,

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DA Provides Updates on 4 Pittsfield Summer Shootings

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:11PM / Thursday, November 05, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass.— District Attorney Timothy Shugrue delivered updates on a string of gun violence incidents over the summer and said even one is too much.

"This summer was extremely upsetting to people living in Pittsfield and our entire Berkshire community. While we live in a safe community, it is always disheartening to hear these gunshots. In the past four years, there has been a remarkable reduction in gun violence," he said during a press conference at the Berkshire DA's office on Thursday.

"Since January 2023, there has been a 62 percent reduction of validated shootings in the City of Pittsfield."

There were four separate incidents involving gunfire in Pittsfield this past summer. Some suspects were charged, and some are still being sought by police.

On June 18, a person died after being shot in the area of Tyler Street and Pleasure Avenue, and another person was injured. Following an extensive investigation, the Pittsfield Police Department applied for and was granted an arrest warrant for Terry Martizna, wanted for murder.

Shugrue reported that his office is working with various authorities, including federal, to secure Martizna's return to the Berkshires. He said he was involved the whole weekend of the incident after being "immediately" contacted by the PPD.

"My office was on notice, and we continued to work with them throughout the night. I can tell you that they worked all night long; they never stopped working. I was really pleased with the amount of effort that was going into it, and by the next day, we had a pretty good clue of where we were going. But the amount of surveillance that they had to go through was incredible, and it was just commendable," he added.

"The amount of support we got from the community, from the Pittsfield residents, and from the work that these officers put in all weekend long, they were able to identify certain locations where this individual was, and that continued all the way in through Monday morning. By that Saturday, I was informed that we had a suspect that we were just producing the probable cause reports, and that was all which led to the warrant coming out."

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