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Israel expert PITTSFIELD — Mitchell Bard, executive director of the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise and a foreign policy analyst who frequently lectures on U.S.-Middle East policy, will update the community on the position of Israel in the world at Temple Anshe Amunim, 26 Broad St., on Tuesday, Sept. 28, at 7:30 p.m. The annual program is sponsored without charge by the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires. Bard heads the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, which was established in 1993 as a nonpartisan organization designed to strengthen the U.S.-Israel relationship by emphasizing the shared values of the nations. He is the author of 17 books and has appeared on Fox News, MSNBC, NBC, CBC, and the Jenny Jones Show. Information: 413-442-4360, ext. 12. Antique appraisal CUMMINGTON — The fifth annual Autumn Antique Appraisal will be held on Sunday, Sept. 26, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the William Cullen Bryant Homestead. Doug Kimball and his staff from Kimball’s Auction and Estate Services, Easthampton, will appraise art, furniture and other collectibles for people who want an instant assessment of their valuables. The appraisal will be held in the Red Barn at the Homestead. There is no entrance fee, but appraisals will cost $5 for one to three items; $7 for up to a limit of five items. Refreshments will be available for purchase. The Homestead will be open for historic house tours from 1 to 5 p.m. (Trustees’ members free, adults $5, children $2.50). Information: 413-634-2244. Business forum PITTSFIELD — A free breakfast forum to help businesses, “Making Cents: A Discussion on Managing Expenses,” will be held on Friday, Oct. 1, at 7:30 a.m. at Berkshire Enterprises offices, One Fenn St. Bart Raser, co-owner of Carr Hardware, will lead the discussion of how small businesses can analyze and manage expenses to increase sales and increase profits. The forum is designed to help owners and managers of small businesses learn from each other as they share their own experiences managing expenses. The monthly breakfast forums are presented by the Berkshire Business Information Center, Berkshire Enterprises, the Pittsfield Enterprise Center and the Berkshire Chamber of Commerce. The center is funded by contributions from Berkshire Bank, Greylock Federal Credit Union, Legacy Banks, Banknorth, Pittsfield Co-op Bank and the Berkshire Chamber of Commerce. The Berkshire Business Information Center is sponsored by the Small Business Administration and is in the offices of Berkshire Enterprises. Bellissimo Dolce will provide pastries. The forum is free, and a continental breakfast will be served. Space is limited and reservations are required. Information: Steve Fogel, 448-2755. Health lecture STOCKBRIDGE — Berkshire Country Day School will sponsor a free program by Dr. Mark Hyman, co-medical director of Canyon Ranch in the Berkshires, at Furey Hall on the school’s Brook Farm Campus on Tuesday, Sept. 28, at 7 p.m. Hyman, co-author of “Ultra Prevention: The Six Week Plan That Will Make You Healthy,” will present a lecture on “Ultra Prevention’s Science of Staying Healthy: the Cause and Cure of All Disease.” A book signing will follow. Hopkins Festival WILIAMSTOWN — Residents are invited to the annual Fall Festival at Hopkins Forest on Sunday, Sept. 26, from 1 to 4 p.m. The event will celebrate the changing of the seasons and the bounty of the wooded environment. It will feature traditional woodworking demonstrations, hikes, a canopy walkway, music, apple butter and cider production, music, refreshments and children’s activities. The festival will also exhibit some of the environmental research that has happened in the Experimental Forest the last few years. Students and staff of the Center for Environmental Studies at Williams College will be available to show visitors the watershed, weather station, vegetation experiments and the nation's first canopy walkway. The 2,500-acre Hopkins Forest, donated to Williams in the 1930s by the family of Col. Amos Lawrence Hopkins, has been actively managed by the college for teaching and research endeavors for 30 years. The forest also has an array of hiking and cross-country ski trails, along with a visitor center, an herb garden and a maple sugaring operation. The festival is free and appropriate for all ages. The forest is at the junction of Northwest Hill Road and Bulkley Street and is open daily during daylight hours. Information: forest manager, 597-4353. Law practice PITTSFIELD — Former Assistant District Attorney Marc C. Vincelette has resigned from his position with the Berkshire County district attorney’s office to open a private law practice, The Law Offices of Marc C. Vincelette, at 8 Bank Row, Suite 300, with a satellite office in North Adams. Vincelette will specialize in criminal defense, family law and real estate law. His areas of interest include drunken driving and domestic-violence defense. He will serve all of Western Massachusetts, representing clients in the Berkshire, Hampshire and Hampton County courts. Vincelette is a 1998 graduate of LaSalle University, where he earned a bachelor degree in criminal justice. He earned his law degree from Quinnipiac University School of Law, cum laude, in 2003. Following the bar exam, he spent the last 13 months working for the late District Attorney Gerard Downing and the newly elected District Attorney David Capeless. Vincelette stressed that his decision to enter a private practice was made prior to the district attorney’s election and its outcome did not play a role. Vincelette is the youngest son of Pittsfield City Councilor Chuck Vincelette and Michele Vincelette. Lecture series GREAT BARRINGTON — The Dowmel Foundation, Berkshire Hills Regional School District and The Berkshire Museum have announced the speakers for the 2004/2005 J. Leo Dowd and Catherine Mellon Dowd Lecture Series. The series will open its 10th season on Tuesday, Oct. 2, with environmental activist Erin Brockovich. She will talk on how “Corporate America Impacts Our Environment.” The next speaker will be Mark Plotkin, an ethno-botonist, on Wednesday, Nov. 3. On Wednesday, Dec. 1, noted social critic and author of “Nickel and Dimed,” Barbara Ehrenreich will speak. On Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2005, Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics, University of Pennsylvania, will speak. Following that will be Nina Totenberg, NPR legal affairs correspondent on Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2005. The final lecturer of the season will be Hans Blix, former U.N. weapons inspector, on Monday, March 7, 2005. All the lectures will be presented at Monument Mountain Regional High School at 7:30 p.m. and are free, but only with tickets made available to the public on designated ticket-distribution dates. Tickets may be obtained, two-per-person, at Monument Mountain High School and The Berkshire Museum. On ticket distribution dates, doors will open at 7 a.m. at both venues, and tickets will be distributed beginning at 8 a.m. at The Berkshire Museum and at 8:30 a.m. at Monument Mountain Regional High School. Doors at the high school will close at 9 a.m. The lecture series is appropriate for children 14 and older. No one under that age will be given tickets. If tickets are remaining after the initial distribution period, they will be available during regular school or museum business hours. Cafeteria tickets are numbered, and those numbers will be honored the night of the lecture. Muster results STEPENTOWN, N.Y. — The firemen’s muster on Sept. 11 was a great success with a strong turnout from fire departments and spectators, according to the event’s organizers. Results are as follows: Parade — Best Appearing Muster Team, Whately; Best Appearing Fire Department, Hancock; First Place Marching, Berlin; Parade Float, Stephentown Area Veterans. Men’s Water Polo — First Place, Stephentown Volunteer Fire Department (SVFD) 1; Second Place, SVFD 2; Third Place, Dalton. Women’s Water Polo — First Place, SVFD (Mad Dog Madden Team, Cindy, Tammy and Danielle; Second Place, Hinsdale. Oil Fire — SVFD, Foldsville, Bissellville. Five-Man Ladder — Hinsdale, Whately, Lanesboro. Five-Woman Ladder — Avon, Hinsdale, Unionville. Men’s Midnight Alarm — Lanesboro, Hinsdale, Whately. Women’s Midnight Alarm — Avon, Florida, Whately. Men’s Hilltop Wet Hose — Foldsville, Whately, Lanesboro. Women’s Hilltop Wet Hose — Avon, Hinsdale, Unionville. Centrifugal Pumping — Foldsville, Lee, Dalton. Rotary Pumping — Whatel, Hinsdale, Bissellville. Paul Crowell “Keep it Fun” award — Lanesboro. Sportsmanship Award — Lee. Stephentown Children's Muster Results Water Target — Brenda Cote, Travis Searing, Elijah Forward. Midnight Alarm — Devon Smith, James Mayer, Chris York. Market music CAMBRIDGE, N.Y. — Blues musician Moon McGeoch will perform at the Cambridge Farmers Market in downtown Cambridge by the Cambridge Freight Yard, off Main Street near the Cambridge Hotel, on Sunday, Sept. 26. The Farmers Market offers locally raised meats, fruits, vegetables, baked goods and locally produced crafts. Market vendors include Happenchance Farm, Black Lab Fruits & Vegetables, Log Cabin Farm Soap and Tehyas Botanicals. The market will be open each Sunday from 10 to 2 p.m. through Oct. 10. Information: Market Manager Remus Preda, cambridgefarmersmarket@earthlink.net or 518-588-0826. Kerry brigade PITTSFIELD — The Berkshire Brigades for Kerry will meet to organize activities and enlist volunteers for the home stretch of Sen. John Kerry's campaign for president at the American Legion on Wendell Ave. tonight [Thursday, Sept. 23] at 7. The agenda includes collection of office supplies and monetary contributions for the bridgades’ "adopted" campaign office in Orlando, Fla.; weekend trips to Keene, N.H., to canvass voters; extended trips to Ohio, Pennsylvania and other battleground states; letter writing to single moms, phone calling to voters in battleground states; and Election Day activities for volunteers in Keene. Cultural council PITTSFIELD — The Pittsfield Cultural Council has announced that grant applications are available for fiscal 2005. The new applications may be picked up at the Berkshire Athenaeum, city clerk’s and mayor’s offices in City Hall, 70 Allen St.; West Side Neighborhood Resource Center, 12 John St.; and the Storefront Artists Project public information desk, 116 North St. All applications must be mailed to the Pittsfield Cultural Council, with postmarks dated no later than Friday, Oct. 15, to P.O. Box 1192, Pittsfield, MA 01202-1192. No other method of delivery or address is acceptable, and applications received without postmark will be discarded. It is suggested that all applicants read the Pittsfield Cultural Council guidelines, which accompany the application. They are not necessarily the same as in previous years or as available from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. There will be a public input and application help session on Wednesday, Sept. 29, at 7 p.m. in Room 203 (Hearing Room behind the City Council Chambers) of City Hall. No appointments are necessary. Members of the council will be on hand. The council has been level-funded for a third year, at $13,710 from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. That reflects a 62-percent cut from its level three years ago, as part of the overall reduction in state funding. Apple picking LANESBORO — The Northern Berkshire Community Partnership for Children will host an apple picking event open to all preschool children and their families, at Lake View Orchards from 1 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 25. Advance registration is required, as space is limited. The event is one in a series of monthly activities being sponsored for preschoolers and their families. The Northern Berkshire Community Partnership for Children is a grant-funded program through the state Department of Education. Information: Call 664-4615. Nutrition workshop PITTSFIELD — Resources for Child Care will offer a nutrition workshop, “How Does Nutrition Help Children,” by Rich Flores of North Adams Regional Hospital on Wednesday, Sept. 29, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Resources for Child Care, 152 North St., Suite 230. The workshop will examine the eating habits of children, the growing epidemic of childhood obesity and how to plan menus that meet nutrition requirements. Registration is required. The cost is $20. To register: Resources for Child Care, 877-443-7830.
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Friends of Great Barrington Libraries Holiday Book Sale

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — The Friends of Great Barrington Libraries invite the community to shop their annual Holiday Good-as-New Book Sale, happening now through the end of the year at the Mason Library, 231 Main Street. 
 
With hundreds of curated gently used books to choose from—fiction, nonfiction, children's favorites, gift-quality selections, cookbooks, and more—it's the perfect local stop for holiday gifting.
 
This year's sale is an addition to the Southern Berkshire Chamber of Commerce's Holiday Stroll on this Saturday, Dec. 13, 3–8 PM. Visitors can swing by the Mason Library for early parking, browse the sale until 3:00 PM, then meet Pete the Cat on the front lawn before heading downtown for the Stroll's shopping, music, and festive eats.
 
Can't make the Holiday Stroll? The book sale is open during regular Mason Library hours throughout December.
 
Proceeds support free library programming and events for all ages.
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