Billings to Resign North Adams Council Seat

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
09:52PM / Tuesday, July 28, 2009Print Story | Email Story

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — City Councilor Clark H. Billings will resign his seat next month.

Billings, who spent nearly 30 years in service to the city, has not attended any council meetings since the end of May. The retired professor moved to Rhode Island at that time but was maintaining his home in the city until it could be sold. He had expected to return to the city during the summer.

The City Council bid him farewell in May in case he was unable to make any more meetings. Council President Alan Marden said at Tuesday's council meeting that he had been in contact with Billings about his "lack of attendance."

In a phone conversation before the meeting, said Marden, "Billings informed me he will be resigning effective Aug. 29, the date of his retirement from MCLA."

Marden said he recommended not filling the position until the November election and that he had discussed the issue with both Billings and Mayor John Barrett III.

Billings had expressed a wish to let the voters replace him rather than the council, which in past circumstances has appointed the 10th-highest vote-getter in the previous election. That would have been Christopher J. Tremblay, who placed 38 votes behind Billings. Tremblay, who returned nomination papers for another run at the council, has since decided he will not stand for election.

Brian Flagg, also a candidate for City Council this year, had planned to ask the council to address Billings' absences. Flagg said he was concerned about comments the councilor had made on local message boards and, while he thought Billings should be appreciated for his service, he should be discouraged from staying on until January.

"I guess this takes care of it," he said afterward.

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Well, this is the most positive development I could have hoped for. Mr. Billings, having served honorably for all those years, ended his presence on the Council in an embarrassing manner. His rantings on the Topix pages were, if nothing else, "conduct unbecoming a Councilor." But as he pointed out many times, he was untouchable, and even, in his word, "invincible." Give me a break. The City charter needs to be amended to allow voters a quicker and more efficient way to remove a Councilor.
from: North Adams resident	on: 07-29-2009 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

Any elected official who behaves publicly the way Billings has behaved should be censured and/or asked to resign. It didn't have to end this way. Billings brought that on himself. Thank God the "Billings era" is over.
from: professionalism	on: 07-29-2009 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

Any MCLA student that had Clark Billings as a professor was very lucky indeed. I have a BA in history and a minor in Woman Studies. I would not be where I am today as an educator myself if it wasnâ€™t for the 5+ courses I took in American History from American Civilization to Profiles in Courage. Thank you Professor Billings and have a very happy and relaxing retirement.
from: Melanie Rancourt	on: 07-29-2009 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

News Flash - Clark Billings torments dimwits on Topix boards.(they are easy pickins' for a provocateur like The Professor) Go get 'em Clark. Wish you and Janice the best in retirement.
from: news flash	on: 07-30-2009 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

For once Marden makes the right choice. Thank god this lunatic, verbal abuser and superegocentric man is gone from the council for good! No wonder he is friends with Barrett. Huge step for North Adams. bye-bye billings the self called prince of darkness. This by itself speaks volumes!
from: finally	on: 07-31-2009 12:00AM I Agree (0) - I Disagree (0)

North Adams Becomes a Purple Heart Community

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
05:16AM / Tuesday, August 11, 2026

Veterans Service Officer Kurtis Durocher, a Purple Heart recipient, tells his own story of how he was wounded in Iraq.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — City leaders last week held a ceremony marking the city as a Purple Heart Community to honor local military service members wounded or killed in combat.

"This designation is much more than a sign that will stand at the entrances to our city," said Kurtis Durocher, Northern Berkshire veterans service officer at City Hall on Friday. "It is a lasting commitment and a promise to this community. We'll never forget the sacrifices made by those who are wounded or killed while serving our nation. It is a public declaration of the courage and sacrifices of combat wounded. Veterans will always have a place of honor here in North Adams."

As a Purple Heart Community, North Adams will place signs throughout the city acknowledging the designation. The city will also hold a ceremony every Aug. 7 on National Purple Heart Day.

During the inaugural ceremony, Durocher said he was asked by the Military Order of the Purple Heart to find a keynote speaker for the event, preferably a Purple Heart recipient. But he was unable to find someone willing to speak. With the date approaching, he decided to tell his own story.

"I don't like standing up and telling my own personal story ... But I realized, in my position as a VSO, I get so many ... children of veterans who will say, 'I didn't know anything about my father until after he passed because he just didn't talk about it,'" Durocher said. "... I have been that way until I've gotten into this position, and so, now, I try to tell my story as much as I can when it is brought to me."

Durocher served in the Army for 20 years and retired as a master sergeant. On Friday, he recalled a time early in his career while serving in the 82nd Airborne Division deploying to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. On Sept. 12, 2003, his squad was conducting a patrol on Route Irish in Baghdad. He was serving as a gunner on an LMTV when it was struck by a 155-millimeter artillery shell. He said the explosive had been hidden behind a guardrail and detonated using nothing more than a washing machine timer.

"In an instant, everything changed. The blast knocked me unconscious. When I regained consciousness, I instinctively was removing my helmet," he said. "Almost immediately my training took over. We had been taught repeatedly that attacks like this were often followed by a secondary attack or an ambush. I quickly put my helmet back on and began searching for my machine gun."

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