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Dalton Green Committee Selects CAP Logo

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
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DALTON, Mass. — The Green Committee selected its logo for its Climate Action Plan during its meeting on Wednesday. 
 
The committee is developing a climate action plan with Blue Strike to achieve net zero by 2050 by seeking strategies to decrease the town's dependence on fossil fuels for homes, businesses, municipal facilities, and vehicles. 
 
Part of this process is community engagement, which involves informing residents about the climate action plan, gathering community input for its development, and answering people's questions. 
 
A picture is worth 1,000 words, committee member Antonio Pagliarulo. 
 
The logo helps reflect Dalton's past, present, and future environmental climate status. The committee called for logo submissions out to Wahconah Regional High School students and received 24 logo submissions. 
 
Blue Strike's graphic designer narrowed the submission to the three most compatible options that could be turned into a logo. 
 
During a meeting in November, the committee selected its preferred design for the CAP consultant, Blue Strike graphic designer, to convert into a usable logo for the town. 
 
The committee said It was a tough decision because of how well each student did, but selected Ashlyn Roch's design. 
 
The Green Committee will be giving each of the three students awards for their designs. 
 
During Wednesday's meeting, Cisco Tomasino, BlueStrike's climate and events manager, presented the committee with three conversions of Roch's logo that the company's graphic designer made. 
 
The committee liked the winning design because it was simple and included the text "Est. 2024," which is when the climate action plan was established. 
 
"I'd like that because it gives people a reference point in terms of our committee," Pagliarulo said. 
 
Committee member Todd Logan agreed, adding that it scales "really well." 
 
The committee requested that the graphic designer change the font used in the "Est. 2024" text to a bolder and taller one because the selected font is barely legible. 
 
"We don't want [the font] to be larger because then it would be wider. The way that your graphic designer did it aligns with the circle that the other font is in. So, we don't want to destroy that nice alignment. We just want it to be taller," Logan said. 
 
The committee's second favorite was described as having good composition and colors, but when scaled down, you can read the text, but the graphic gets lost. 
 
"I've solicited opinions from people that are on our advisory group, and there was a strong feeling that [the green committee's second favorite] was the one of preference," Committee member Thomas Irwin said. 
 
Irwin said that Kira Smith, the town manager's Office Assistant, is a graphic designer and prefers the green committee's second favorite but also likes the design that the committee selected. 
 
Smith said that it could be worth considering having both and, depending on the background, switching between them, Irwin said. 
 
"She thought that would be a great idea, and on reflection, I think that's an excellent suggestion," Irwin said. 
 
Committee member Laurie Martinelli said having two different logos would be confusing. 
 
Irwin said if he had to select a preferred option, he would choose the logo the Green Committee decided against – the second favorite. 

Tags: green committee,   logos,   

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Companion Corner: Glo at the Berkshire Humane Society

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — There's a sweet and playful dog at the Berkshire Humane Society waiting for her new family.

iBerkshire's Companion Corner is a weekly series spotlighting an animal in our local shelters that is ready to find a home.

"Glo is about a one-year-old, sweet female pitty mix who has nothing but love to give," said kennel supervisor Stacey Broderick.

Glo has been at the shelter for about three weeks after unfortunately being kicked out of her previous home.

"She came here because her previous home, she was being crated an awful lot, and unfortunately, was creating a little bit of a raucous when she was left by herself," said Broderick. "So she was just being a little barky, a little loud. Neighbors obviously shared walls in an apartment setting we're complaining to the landlord, and the landlord said, unfortunately, that she had to go."

But since coming to the shelter she has been learning a lot.

"She's been nothing but a sweet little girl ever since she is working on crate training, she has been very good for us. We're practicing it with her. She is also working on her house training. In addition to it, it seems that we had a little bit of a reverse situation going on, where she likes to go potties inside, but we are working very hard, and she is learning so quickly," she said. "So even after just a couple weeks with us, she's been really getting the point to go outside and do all of her potties out there."

She would do best in the home as the only dog and possibly without cats. She would also do best with older children who can understand her needs as she needs less activity than other dogs.

"The perfect home would, because of the necessity for her to have a lower activity level, probably without other dogs, just because she can get a little bit rambunctious when she gets excited around them," Broderick said. "So she could certainly have doggie play dates, but her perfect home would be no dogs. Unfortunately, we do have a bit of a prey drive with kitty cats, so probably leaning away from the cats, unless they're incredibly dog savvy ...

"Probably looking toward a home without super young kids, just so they're not jumping, you know, or leaning, or anything along those lines, and understanding that sometimes she's going to just need a break."

Because of a medical condition she wouldn't be able to go on long hikes or do anything extraneous but she is still very active and playful.

"She is absolutely lovely. She's sweet, she's young, she's playful. She wants to be with her people all the time. She loves toys. She does like going out for walks. We do have a couple of medical things that we can certainly give more information to adopters, too," she said. "We have some hip dysplasia that we're looking at, so probably moderate activity level would be best for her.

"She shouldn't necessarily be going on super long hikes, even though she would love to, but she is young and full of life and full of energy, and wants nothing more than to be with her people."

Since Glo has hip dysplasia she will need to maintain a healthy weight to not add stress to her joints and can also benefit from hydrotherapy.

"It's something that somebody will have to have a good relationship with a veterinarian physical therapists, and then if they were interested in doing a hydrotherapy type situation, it can only help her," Broderick said. "We want to keep those muscles built up in the hind end so that her hips are not taking the brunt of the bone on bone action while she is kind of living out her very best life."

Glo hasn't shown any symptoms or difficulties since being at the shelter, but it is a condition that her owners need to understand and it increases her chances of arthritis as she gets older.

Broderick said Fritters Critters in Lee specializes in pet hydrotherapy.

"They basically work on an underwater treadmill. So that's walking under the water so that she has a little bit of resistance and the water is warm, so that it's optimum for therapeutic benefits," she said. "They do have a pool there, too, where she would be able to do some swimming, and it really gives her the ability to exercise and really extend those joints and build up those muscles without the added pressure of gravity and impact as she's walking or playing or running.

"So the hydrotherapy is a great option for dogs, even if you just want to do it for fun. She could really benefit healthwise, from it, too."

She will also have to stay on her joint mobility food to help her.

But Glo is a very happy and playful dog and loves everyone she sees and is hoping to find someone who will love her just as much to take her home.

"I can't say enough good about her. I know that the hip dysplasia sounds like a scary piece of it, as well as the house training," Broderick said. "But honestly, there was not a friendlier, sweeter, more outgoing, social, wants to be best friends with you, kind of dog. She was in the front lobby this past Saturday, and she met like 10 people at the same time, and just made rounds and loved every single person as they came in."

You can visit Glo at the Berkshire Humane Society and read more about her on the website.

The Berkshire Humane Society is open Tuesday through Sunday. The adoption center is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, and 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday.

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