News & Notes: First Swine Flu Case; Alleged Drug Ring Busted
 |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Pittsfield Board of Health has confirmed the first case of swine flu in Berkshire County but few details are available about the case.
All that is known is that a local patient complained of flu-like symptoms including fever and nausea and a lab test confirmed the H1N1 infection. The unidentified patient was not hospitalized. Health officials did say that the person who came down with the swine flu is not a student but would not say if the patient was a man or woman.
As of Monday, the state Department of Health Public reported 636 confirmed cases statewide since the initial outbreak, 34 of which required hospitalization.
Northern Berkshire District Court A Busy Place
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Northern Berkshire District Court was a very busy place Tuesday.
Four suspected drug dealers were arraigned on a variety of drug charges: 21-year-old Darnell Sumlin of Manhattan, N.Y., 22-year-old Ural Robinson of the Bronx, N.Y., 46-year-old Kathleen Lear of Ashland Street and 42-year-old Francis Martin of Spring Street.
Sumlin and Robinson were both ordered held on $50,000 cash bail and Lear was ordered held on $20,000 cash bail. Martin, who rents the Spring Street apartment, was released on personal recognizance.
The arrests were the result of a sting instituted on Monday by local and state police, members of the Berkshire County Drug Task Force, as part of an 18-month investigation. North Adams Public Safety Commissioner E. John Morocco told the North Adams Transcript the arrests were related to a drug ring involved in a number of violent encounters, including the stabbing death of Daniel Walters last year.
Walters' assailant, Ronnell Garmie, was not indicted in the slaying but he and others were arrested on a variety of drug charges.
Adams Man Arraigned On Assault Charges
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A 20-year-old Adams man was arraigned in Berkshire Superior Court on Tuesday on assault charges.
William Fiske III pled not guilty to armed assault with intent to murder, two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and intimidation of a witness in relation to the stabbing of a 35-year-old man during a fight in Adams on April 16.
Judge John A. Agostini ordered Fiske held at the Berkshire County House of Correction on $25,000 cash bail.
Patrick Administration Sets Wind Power Public Hearing in Pittsfield
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Patrick administration will hold two public listening sessions this month on wind power, one on Cape Cod and other in Pittsfield.
Officials of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs want to know how the public feels about the potential development of wind power on state-owned land. The Pittsfield public meeting will take place at Berkshire Community College on Wednesday, June 24, at 6 p.m.
On hand for the public input session will be Department of Conservation and Recreation Commissioner Richard Sullivan, Department of Energy Resources Commissioner Philip Giudice and area legislators. The other public session will take place in Bourne.
