One Held on Drug, Firearms Charges in Williamstown

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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Police arrested a man Thursday on nearly a dozen drug-related and firearms charges after an incident in South Williamstown.
 
Williamstown Police on Friday said the department was notified by several callers about a "running vehicle located in the travel lane at the Five Corners intersection with an unresponsive operator at the wheel."
 
An officer responding to the scene was able to awaken the operator, police said. After observing the individual and based on evidence in plain view inside the vehicle, the officer believed the subject was under the influence of narcotics.
 
Police said that while the subject was exiting the vehicle, the officer saw a handgun protruding from under the driver's seat. The gun later was found to be loaded with a high-capacity magazine, according to the department's news release.
 
The statement said the subject resisted attempts to place him in custody and attempted to re-enter the vehicle.
 
"[He] was handcuffed by the officer with the assistance of a witness who had stopped to initially report the incident," the news release reads. "The second patrol officer arrived on scene at this point."
 
An inventory of the car and, later, the subject during booking, revealed drug paraphernalia, prepackaged bags of marijuana and 250 bags of heroin "packaged in a manner consistent with street level distribution in Berkshire County," according to police. 
 
The car also contained a dog, which was transported to the animal shelter, police said.
 
Police said the subject was held at the Williamstown police station overnight on $5,000 cash bail and transported Friday morning to Northern Berkshire District Court in North Adams for arraignment on 11 charges, including operating under the influence, carrying a firearm without a license, carrying a loaded firearm without a license, possession of drugs with intent to distribute, possession of an open container of marijuana inside a motor vehicle, resisting arrest and possession of a large capacity firearm while in commission of a felony.

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Williamstown Board Hears Concerns About 'Hometown Heroes' Banners

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Kurt Durocher told the Williamstown Select Board that he had received nothing but positive feedback from the North County communities where he proposed participation in the Hometown Heroes banner program.
 
Then Williamstown residents started to weigh in.
 
Durocher was before the board Monday evening to seek its blessing to put banners recognizing living and deceased military veterans on utility poles in Williamstown, an initiative that has been embraced in all but one of the other municipalities in the district where he serves as Veterans' Service Officer.
 
"The only negative I've had right now, and it's not really negative, [the Town of ] Florida doesn't want banners to go on Route 2, the Mohawk Trail, for safety reasons, understandably," Durocher said. "So we're trying to figure out an alternate way to make that work in Florida."
 
By and large, though, the reception to the program has been encouraging, Durocher said.
 
"I'll use Adams as an example," he said. "They've had a program for many, many years, but it's only for [military personnel] killed in action. Now that I've been allowed to take over that program … there's been a huge outpouring of support, because now we get living veterans on the poles as well.
 
"The only negative I've had is certain people want their banners in certain locations. So what we did in North Adams is we just did a random draw. I can't please everybody. I've got people who want a banner in a certain location, but three other people want that same location.It was a straight random draw for them."
 
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