Dalton Town Employees Gets ADA Training

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
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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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WWII Veteran Reflects on D-Day at VFW Post Induction

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

The members in the picture are Bret Miller, Coast Guard, Desert Storm; Hank Morris, Army, Vietnam; Brad Havill, Navy, Global War on Terror; VFW Post 448 Vice Cmdr. Mark Pompi, Army, Global War on Terrorism, Afghanistan; Post Cmdr. Arnold Perras, Korea; Joe Difillipo, Army, Vietnam; Teri Billington, Navy, Desert Storm; and Carmen Ostrander, Air Force, Afghanistan.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Anthony Salatino Jr. says his memory is getting a little foggy about his time in the Army. 

But he remembers how terrible D-Day was, and feeling lucky he wasn't among those in the initial invasion force 82 years ago. 
 
"One of the most horrible things was in Normandy. We went shortly after D-Day. I got lucky, very lucky on D-Day. We went to a staging area the night before … and at the very end, somebody called, I was in headquarters, they called all the headquarters personnel at the center," the 103-year-old said. "We did not go. There's about 30 of us. The rest of the battalion was gone, and the reason for that was because there was another battalion coming from the States, and they had no headquarters. 
 
"We stayed back, but we did go to Normandy shortly after that, and when we went to Normandy, it was all over."
 
Salatino was attending an induction ceremony on Thursday at the Lt. John N. Truden VFW Post 448. Joseph Texidor, who served in the Army for 17 years with tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, was sworn in as the post's newest member. 
 
Salatino served in the Medical Corps and wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father, a World War I veteran wounded at Verdun. Salatino was in the Army for about three years.
 
"The whole memory is what I just told you, very, very alive to me," he said. "That is, I can never forget, never forget that."
 
D-Day on June 6, 1944, was the start of Operation Overlord, and the largest invading force to cross the English Channel since 1066. Their goal: to liberate Europe from Nazi Germany. 
 
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