Boy Scout Quinton Thomas spearheaded the cleanup and improvements at the Columbia Street veterans memorial as part of his Eagle Scout service.
ADAMS, Mass. — The Selectmen last week thanked Boy Scout Quinton Thomas for spearheading a clean up of the town's Columbia World War I Memorial Park.
Thomas was given a certificate of appreciation Wednesday at the board's regular meeting for his work on the Columbia Street park.
"I think that cleaning up monuments and just overall trying to improve everything we have in this great town makes it such a better place," Thomas said. "When people come by they see the train and all of the old mills ... I didn't want that park to be something they just pass by."
Thomas is working toward his Eagle Scout service award and said after spending some time trying to find a good project he settled on the park.
"I looked around town and was looking for something that needed some extra love," he said. "Last year I took a gander at it and I saw that it was in shambles. It kind of looked like it did go through a war."
The park across from the Memorial Building dates to around 1920 but was redone with new monuments in 2002.
Thomas painted and stained the benches and trash barrels at the park. He also power washed the monuments and built raised flower beds in which he planted flowers.
Thomas also added mulch and cleaned the sidewalk.
He thanked fellow Scouts and his family for helping him. He also thanked the Department of Public Works employees who spent some time at the park.
"They were a huge help. They were there early in the morning getting stuff ready so we could have the volunteers come in late in the afternoon to do what was on the agenda," he said. "It has been really great."
The board thanked Thomas and Selectman James Bush said when he first saw what he was doing, he had to take a double take.
"I just want to say thank you. The first time I drove by I had to turn around and drive back again because I couldn't believe it," he said. "It looks really beautiful."
Town Administrator Jay Green, a veteran and former Boy Scout, told Thomas to keep up the good work.
"I know what it takes to get to this point in your Boy Scout career and as the town administrator I can't tell you what this means to us," he said. "To have someone like yourself who cares about the town and looks fondly on it. Always keep that wherever you go."
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Adams Welcomes New Officer; Appoints Housing Authority Board Member
By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
Officer Cole Desroches recently graduated from the Police Academy.
ADAMS, Mass. — The Selectmen welcomed the newest member of the Adams Police Department, Officer Cole Desroches, on Wednesday evening.
Desroches graduated from the Police Academy on March 22 in the top tier in his class. He's currently in the field training program and assigned to Sgt. Curtis Crane. He attended Hoosac Valley High School and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.
"He's going to serve and protect the town of Adams very well," said Crane, who with Sgts. Matthew Wright and Gregory Onorato stepped in to introduce the new officer while Chief R. Scott Kelley was on vacation.
"We don't often get an opportunity to kind of talk about, frankly, some of the positive things that are happening in town and one of the many things that I feel are positive with are the Adams Police Department," said Town Administrator Jay Green. "We are right now at full staff. We have a full complement of officers. We have a chief who just resigned a three-year contract. ... We have four very capable sergeants (including Donna Malloy)."
The force consists of the chief, the four sergeants, a full-time detective and 11 patrol officers. It also has a new position in Cpl. Joshua Baker who is responsible for training and keeping staff equipped.
"We're on the cutting edge of ensuring that we have proper training in a very changing environment with law enforcement," continued Green. "And we have a nice complement of officers and we have a well-respected detective who handles some very complicated cases."
He called out the half-dozen officers who attended the meeting for the work they're doing as well as the K9 unit.
Desroches graduated from the Police Academy on March 22 in the top tier in his class. He's currently in the field training program and assigned to Sgt. Curtis Crane.
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Michael Wynn, who was selected in January to run the center, submitted a level operating budget of $57,500 but said he could pull funding from different lines to ensure there was money for advertising this fall.
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The Selectmen on Wednesday night voted to award the bid to Mackin Construction Co. Inc. of Greenfield, which plans to invest $11 million to build out 20 or more one- and two-bedroom apartments in the three-story classroom wing that parallels Columbia Street.
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The Selectmen two weeks ago had requested the utility appear before the board after receiving numerous complaints over flickering lights, including in Town Hall.
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Taylor Garabedian scored a team-high 22 points and grabbed five rebounds, and Abby Scialabba scored 16 points for the ‘Canes, who got 16 points, nine rebounds and four assists from Ashlyn Lesure. click for more