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Alan Horbal, center, picks up flags donated by Ocean State Job Lot.

Ocean State Job Lot Donates Flags to Fly in North Adams

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — With a little help from Ocean State Job Lot, resident Alan Horbal secured 200 American flags to hang from utility poles throughout the city.
 
Every year, Horbal buys hundreds of flags in preparation for Memorial Day. But with Memorial Day being over a month away, stores were not fully stocked.
 
Enter David Sarlitto, executive director of the Ocean State Job Lot Charitable Foundation.
 
According to a statement from Ocean State, Sarlitto took a road trip to multiple store locations to collect the flags Horbal needed, without depleting store supplies.
 
After many stops and more than six hours of driving round trip, Sarlitto delivered — and donated — 200 flags to Horbal at the end of March.
 
Horbal, a local historian, began some years ago placing flags along Kemp Avenue and East Main Street. Last year, his nonprofit group Kempville Flags Inc. raised enough in donations and volunteer time to fly 304 3-foot by 5-foot flags.
 
Memorial Day is May 31.
 
Tax-deductible donations can be sent to Kempville Flags Inc., 458 East Main St., North Adams, MA 01247.
 

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Macksey Updates on Eagle Street Demo and Myriad City Projects

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff

The back of Moderne Studio in late January. The mayor said the city had begun planning for its removal if the owner could not address the problems. 
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Moderne Studio building is coming down brick by brick on Eagle Street on the city's dime. 
 
Concerns over the failing structure's proximity to its neighbor — just a few feet — means the demolition underway is taking far longer than usual. It's also been delayed somewhat because of recent high winds and weather. 
 
The city had been making plans for the demolition a month ago because of the deterioration of the building, Mayor Jennifer Macksey told the City Council on Tuesday. The project was accelerated after the back of the 150-year-old structure collapsed on March 5
 
Initial estimates for demolition had been $190,000 to $210,000 and included asbestos removal. Those concerns have since been set aside after testing and the mayor believes that the demolition will be lower because it is not a hazardous site.
 
"We also had a lot of contractors who came to look at it for us to not want to touch it because of the proximity to the next building," she said. "Unfortunately time ran out on that property and we did have the building failure. 
 
"And it's an unfortunate situation. I think most of us who have lived here our whole lives and had our pictures taken there and remember being in the window so, you know, we were really hoping the building could be safe."
 
Macksey said the city had tried working with the owner, who could not find a contractor to demolish the building, "so we found one for him."
 
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