Berkshire Band-Itz Recruiting for Roller Derby League

By Joe DurwinPittsfield Correspondent
02:15PM / Sunday, June 23, 2013Print Story | Email Story

The Band-Itz are trying to bring roller derby back to the Berkshires.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The sport of roller derby is returning to Berkshire County, headed by a small but ambitious group of enthusiasts.

The newly formed Berkshire Band-Itz were approved this week by the Pittsfield Parks Commsion for practice at Crane Park, and took to the streets during 3rd Thursday actively looking for recruits.

Organizer Cheryl Bassett, a seasoned player from the Tampa, Fla., area, says the goal is to create an official league recognized by the Women's Fast Track Derby Association, so that local women have a legitimate opportunity to enjoy the sport in this area.

"I moved up here because my husband had work, found out that there was a lot of interest but everything's 40 miles away," Bassett said. "Me, having three kids, I'm not traveling 40 miles to play, and I really wanted to play. I found a bunch of girls who were really dedicated, so we decided to start our own league here."

A previous attempt at establishing organized bouts, the Berkshire County Roller Derby, took place in 2008, but the effort fizzled early on. Berkshire Band-Itz has just completed the process of taking over the earlier group's nonprofit incorporation

Basset, who derbies under the name "6," said they currently have about half the registered players needed to apply to be a WFTDA apprentice league.

"Eventually the goal is to get it indoors somewhere," she said. "But that takes money, and we have to build up numbers first."

Interested women, with or without experience, are encouraged to drop in to one of the group's practices, held Mondays and Thursdays from 7:30-9:30 at the outdoor rink at Crane Park at the corner of Springside Avenue and Benedict Road. The first practice is free to try out, after which Bassett said she envisions some sort of modest dues being agreed upon to be a member of the league.

"It's really something that we feel is a great idea," said Bassett. "We're not profiting from it, but we're really excited about having it in the community."

Other players who've signed on are less experienced than the Tampa roller veteran, but say this is an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of the sport in this region.

"There's definitely girls on the team that have never played derby before," said recruit Lucia Liebenow. "I had never played before in my life. You don't have to have any previous experience."

Tags: roller derby, roller skate,

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EPA, GE Conducting Vernal Pool Study on Housatonic River

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
11:44AM / Tuesday, August 11, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A pilot study will determine the best way to remediate PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, from vernal pools in the Housatonic River.

Last month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and General Electric held an open house for the Vernal Pool Pilot Study on Reach 5A, a five-mile stretch between the river's confluence and Lenox border. Despite the rain, several people attended the event at the Berkshire Athenaeum.

EPA project manager Josh Fontaine explained that it is an evaluation of which remediation method to use for the remaining vernal pools in Reach 5A.

"We're going to be testing two different methods. One is an excavation method, which we already know has been very successful with another vernal pool cleaned up much earlier in the project," he said.

"And then the other is the application of two different carbon amendments. It would be the application of powdered activated carbon and the application of granulated activated carbon."

Ten vernal pools will be cleaned using these methods: five with excavation and five with active carbon; seven additional vernal pools will be monitored as controls. Construction will be complete around October, but the pools will be left to their natural processes and monitored with surveys and sampling for three years.

Fontaine said there is no frontrunner for methodology.

"We know the excavation method is effective, but we would like to see if the less invasive method of using the amendment will be as effective for potential use," he said.

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