North Adams Bar License Suspended After Stabbing

The License Commission suspended the Artery Lounge's alcohol license for 60 days.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Artery Lounge was handed a 60-day suspension and a significant reduction in hours following the stabbing incident outside the bar on Saturday morning.

The License Commission voted 2-0, with one abstention, on Tuesday evening to enforce the suspension of its alcohol license effective immediately and cut the bar's hours for serving alcohol after that from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The Artery at 68 Union St. has been closed since an emergency meeting of the board on Saturday.

A melee shortly after its closing about 1:30 a.m. on Saturday devolved into the stabbing of 41-year-old Derrick Borum.

Two Pittsfield men, Brandon Green, 20, and Messiah Grandson, 21, were arraigned in District Court on Monday morning. Not-guilty pleas were entered on their behalf. A third man, Donnell McFarland of Pittsfield and Brooklyn, N.Y., was being sought in the incident.

"This was the whipped cream," said Chairman Jeffrey Polucci, describing the increasing frequency of problems at the venue since its relocation three years ago from Holden Street and the conditions the board has set in an attempt to curb problems.

"I feel there are public safety issues," he said, adding the bar has had "a history of being out of control." "I thought we were trying to help them. ... This was a bar that never had a problem."

Attorney Mark Brennan, representing bar owner Daniel O'Neil, argued repeatedly that the fight occurred outside the Artery after it had closed and across the street.

"Last call was at 1:15," he said, and the bouncers cleared everyone out by about 1:30. "It was outside, nothing started inside."

Brennan said he had been told that the persons in question had not been allowed in the building because it was too late. One of the two doormen had also aided the officer and emergency medical technicians in getting the victim into the ambulance.

The board offered little sympathy, referring to past incidents including frequent fights, police calls and underage drinking, noting one of those arrested on Saturday was underage. There was also concern that the bar's managers that night had not called 911 as the crowd appeared to get out of hand.

Saturday's stabbing was the second incident in as many weeks, after a man was found in the bar with a gunshot wound on June 3. The discovery was made after a call about two women fighting outside that also included a report of underage drinking.  

Police Director Michael Cozzaglio said security videos indicated the problem began inside the bar.

According Cozzaglio, based on police reports and video from security cameras, there was no 911 call this past Saturday morning. Officer Gregory Onorato had been parked across from the Artery and the Crystal Hard Hat around the corner on Canal Street; he left to patrol the area and returned to find the melee.

"Inside the bar there was some problems occurring," said Cozzaglio. "There was some friction occurring, you can hear the bouncers trying to clear the bar out."
 
The police director said the suspects involved in this incident had been inside. From the security camera on the Crystal Hard Hat, he said, you could see "the crowd is spilling out on to the sidewalk and that's when the stabbing takes place."

Brennan said he had not seen the police reports or the video yet. Again, he said, there had been no indications of problems inside the bar and his client shouldn't be held culpable for actions he had no control over.

"If I walked out of here and stabbed someone, does that make you responsible?" he asked the board. "How could he possibly know that people were going to leave his bar and stab anybody across the street."

Jennifer Breen, a city councilor, was there as legal counsel to relatives of Chris Stanley, 28, who was killed when the pickup truck he was driving crashed into the flood control chute on Canal Street in February 2012. Stanley's family believes he had been at the Artery prior to the crash.

Breen said the Artery's management was a matter of public safety because of possible overserving and its patrons being outside by the busy road.

"I'm frightened for the police and for the safety of the community in general," she said.  

The board in essence agreed, although Commissioner Jeffrey Kemp abstained. He said he wanted to look through a number of case reports he requested from Cozzaglio.

O'Neil has five days from the receipt of a certified letter from the License Commission to appeal to the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission.

In other business, the commission approved a one-day license for Desperados to serve alcohol outside at the annual Eagle Street Beach Party from 6:30  to 10 p.m. on Friday, July 12, with a rain date of July 19.

Why the Massachusetts Art Community Is Worth Continued Investment

By James BirgeGuest Column
10:41AM / Tuesday, April 21, 2026

How do we quantify the value of art on society and culture? Even eye-popping figures, like the $100 million estimate for the jewels stolen from the Louvre, or the record auction last fall that saw a piece by Gustav Klimt sell for more than $236 million can't fully account for the value of the history, stories, and emotions behind the creations themselves. But beyond that, there is a measurable financial, cultural and social benefit of the arts that is often taken for granted. 

Closer to home, arts and cultural production in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts totals nearly $30 billion annually, representing more than 4 percent of the state's economic output, according to the Mass Cultural Council. All told, more than 130,000 jobs are spread across the commonwealth creating a vibrant and thriving artistic community for us all to enjoy. 

Despite the obvious impact, these figures are under threat. A recent survey by MassCreative compiled recent federal cuts to the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Institute of Museum and Library Services and identified 63 grants canceled and $4.2 million in grant funding rescinded across New England so far this year. 

The dollars, of course, are important. But they also only scratch the surface on what they bring to the community. Today, we risk losing part of the culture and identity many now take for granted. 

While others choose to look past these less tangible, but just as vital benefits, we're doing the opposite. Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts is all in to ensure the next generation retains their access to works of art, while also being empowered to create themselves. 

Last fall, MCLA officially broke ground on the new Campagna Kleefeld Center for Creativity in the Arts, which will serve as a new hub for the campus and the local community for arts programming. When complete in fall of 2027, our students will benefit, but so will all of Berkshire County and artists in the surrounding area. 

This exciting new facility is just one of the many forthcomings our region can enjoy in the coming years. Just a few miles away, anticipation builds for the Fall 2027 anticipated opening for the Williams College Museum of Art. Years in the making, the museum likewise grows from an enduring commitment to the arts, both in curriculum and in practice. Exciting times are also underway for the Clark Art Institute with the construction of a new facility to house a collection of 331 works of art, including paintings, sculptures, drawings and other works. Their wing is scheduled for completion in 2028. And listeners will no doubt enjoy the sounds and melodies from Mass MoCA Records, the latest endeavor to foster creativity and artistic pursuits through music launched in October as well. Of course, many are also awaiting the reopening of the Berkshire Museum anticipated this summer, after a tremendous renovation process to rejuvenate the experience for visitors. 

So much time, energy, and yes, dollars, have already been invested in taking these facilities from ideas and sketches and making them reality. But they represent much more than new buildings. They represent new opportunities to cultivate and accelerate the thriving arts community in Massachusetts and the northern Berkshires. 

Art, regardless of the medium, is a reflection of who we are, where we've been, and what we aspire to be. It can be inspired by hopes or fears and chronicle collective triumphs as well as tribulations. The goal of art is not only to document history, but to inspire those positioned to change it and to feel something new or even to provoke us to revisit our own assumptions or misconceptions. 

As unfathomable of a number as $30 billion can seem, boiling down the impact to any number inherently discounts the unknowable downstream effects our graduates will bring to the community and the broader world after they leave our institutions. Likewise, rescinding $4.2 million now removes a huge chunk of that growth potential.  

Justification for making these investments today when simply boiled down to dollars and cents still places us on solid ground strictly from a financial perspective that forgoes all of the intangible, but no less valuable, benefits as well.  

The arts are still worth our support. And our community will be richer for it. 

James Birge, PhD, is president of Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams.