Letter: Unethical Fire District Maneuver

Letter to the Editor04:00PM / Monday, February 06, 2023Print Story | Email Story

To the Editor:

The Williamstown Fire District recently released a "Comparison of Size of Proposed Williamstown Fire Station to Other Fire Stations" chart on their official website. The purpose of this data was to educate residents about the sizes of fire stations recently built in the region compared to what Williamstown is proposing to gain support.

During the Jan. 25, 2023, Fire District Prudential Committee meeting (recorded by willinet.org) I asked the District if they knew the information on their data chart was incorrect. For example, under the section "Station Size," the communities of Holden (36,450 square feet), Sharon (42,460 square feet), Medfield (41,022 square feet), and Plainville (43,644 square feet) are combined police/fire buildings, (in the case of Plainville, a police/fire/town hall complex), not a stand-alone fire station as suggested by the District.

District Building Committee member James Kolesar answered the question indicating the District was "indeed" aware the numbers were not accurate, stating in part, "... not meant to be overly precise or a formula, its meant to give a general sense of the size, square foot ...", I responded to Mr. Kolesar by reminding him that nowhere on the District's website does the District provide such a disclaimer.

It is remarkably disingenuous for the District to publicize false information. The District has a responsibility to the taxpayer to provide accurate information when asking them to support a $20-plus million project. Regardless of the reason, the Williamstown Fire District has obliterated its credibility.

Scott McGowan
Williamstown, Mass.

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Reverend: Christian Nationalists Make Jesus Victim of 'Identity Theft'

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
08:08AM / Sunday, October 04, 2026

David Langston introduces the Rev. Darrell Goodwin on Wednesday morning.

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Rev. Darrell Goodwin told attendees at Wednesday's "PrayAction Breakfast" that they need more action to make their prayer effective.

"Sometimes prayer causes us to be in deep reflection," Goodwin told the group gathered at the Williamstown Meetinghouse. "And years and years and years pass, and we've actually done nothing about it.

"Our physical belief system is somehow: Say the words to God, and it becomes God's responsibility, and we've done our part because we've told God exactly what to do."

Goodwin, the president of the United Church of Christ's Southern New England Conference, was invited to Williamstown by First Congregational Church to speak on "The Challenge of Christian Nationalism."

And Goodwin challenged his listeners to take meaningful action to confront and address the ideology in their daily lives.

Christian Nationalism, which Goodwin referred to as White Christian Nationalism, is a perversion of Christ's teachings, he said.

"What does it mean to be spiritually grounded but practically committed?" Goodwin asked rhetorically. "This morning I've been asked to come here to talk about Christian Nationalism, but I think it would be remiss if I didn't say White Christian Nationalism. I want to name all three of these words because each tells us something that we must do.

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