UPDATE: Victims in Labor Day Weekend Motorcycle Crashes Identified

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
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Updated on 09052024 at 6:30 pm: According to the District Attorney's office the motorcyclist killed Sunday in Lanesborough was identified as Alfred Paul Salvatore, 75 of Pittsfield.

According to the Daily Voice that one person involved in the motorcycle crash in Charlemont, also on Sunday, has died. The Daily Voice reported that Sheila Rombeiro, of Pittsfield, was riding on the back of her husband's motorcycle when it was involved in a crash with a SUV on Route 2. Her husband, Robert Rombeiro, also of Pittsfield, was seriously injured in the crash.

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LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — There was a fatal motorcycle accident and other emergencies in Berkshire County over Labor Day weekend.

On Sunday evening, a fatal collision occurred between a motorcycle traveling in the Eastbound lane of Route 7 and Route 8 Connector Road in Lanesborough.  

The Berkshire District Attorney's Office's State Police Detective Unit responded to a call for assistance from Lanesborough Police around 12:45 a.m.

"The motorcycle appears to have crossed into the oncoming lane where the motorcycle collided with an SUV. The driver of the motorcycle was pronounced dead at the scene," wrote Julia Sabourin, the DA's chief of operations.

"The investigation remains ongoing."

Earlier that evening around 10:50 p.m., Dalton firefighters were dispatched to 38 Deming St. for a blaze and had it controlled in about ten minutes with mutual aid from Hinsdale, Lanesborough, Cheshire, and Pittsfield.

There were no reported civilian or fire injuries but a police officer was reportedly transferred to Berkshire Medical Center with minor injuries after going into the residence with the owner and rescuing their dogs.

The road was shut down until around 1:30 a.m. when a general overhaul was completed and all apparatuses were cleared, according to the fire department.

Also over the weekend, a poodle mix named Charlotte got away from her owners during a car accident near the firehouse on West Housatonic Street.  According to social media posts, she has since been located with the help of the internet.

MassLive reported that two people were critically injured in a motorcycle crash on Route 2 Sunday evening.

State police reported that the crash happened at the intersection of Avery Brook Rd. around 6:25 p.m. and the Shelburne Falls Fire Department responded, calling for two medical helicopters.

Both were still in critical condition on Sunday night according to the state police, the news outlet reported, and the crash caused Route 2 to be closed for over four hours.

 

Tags: accident,   structure fire,   

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Lanesborough 2025 Year in Review: What's Going On With the Berkshire Mall?

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The town's biggest headline in 2025 was the Berkshire Mall. 

There wasn't much news about the shuttered property since owners, JMJ Holdings, announced that they were pivoting from cannabis cultivation to senior living in 2023.  The Select Board ordered them to pay unsettled taxes in late 2024, and lawsuits transpired. 

JMJ and the Baker Hill Road District remain in a standoff over unpaid taxes for the Route 7/8 Connector Road.  JMJ argues that they are being under-represented and over-taxed by the independent municipal district and want it dissolved, while the BHRD wants to take the mall back. 

The Berkshire Mall closed more than five years ago and has sat vacant since.

Its current owners are planning an assisted living, mixed-use build, and secured Integritus Healthcare as a partner.  First, the decrepit mall must be taken down. 

In May, JMJ reported that the project was entering the design process for a nine-figure overhaul of the property into 420 to 450 units of senior housing, and it was confirmed that town taxes were paid, totaling $293,380. 

The holdings company filed a lawsuit against the BHRD, which had filed a December 2024 lawsuit seeking $545,000 for taxes due in May 2024.  JMJ said the property is charged six times more taxes than other Lanesborough businesses. 

In August, JMJ announced that it is partnering with a local health-care company, Integritus Healthcare, to bolster its plans for hundreds of senior housing units.

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