North Adams Man Killed Working on Car

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Flowers left outside Klipper Kingz on Eagle Street on Tuesday for owner Christopher Barton.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A local barber and musician was killed Sunday when he was pinned by a car he was working on.
 
The District Attorney's office confirmed that the victim was Christopher Barton, 51, who was working on the vehicle on steep Bradley Street when it rolled forward and over him.
 
Police and firefighters responded at about 8 p.m. according to scanner reports and were able to lift the vehicle high enough to pull him out and start CPR. He died at the hospital. 
 
Barton was the owner of Klipper Kingz Barber Co., which opened on historic Eagle Street in 2009 in the former Norm's Barbershop. 
 
Originally from Houston, Barton also was a rapper who performed under the name Bigzdaking. 
 
His Facebook page was filled with posts of condolences and testimonies to his positive influence on many in the community and flowers and cards were left at the barbershop's door on Tuesday. 
A benefit dinner to help his family is planned for Jan.14 and a GoFundMe has been set up. More information here.

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Sanford, Maine, Edges SteepleCats in Season Opener

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires.com Sports
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – The SteepleCats Sunday started their 2026 season the way they ended their 2025 campaign: with a narrow loss to the Sanford Mainers.
 
Sanford, which won a best-of-three playoff series against North Adams last August, scored four runs on 14 hits to earn a 4-2 win at Joe Wolfe Field.
 
The Mainers broke a 1-1 tie with a two-run rally in the third inning, and four Sanford pitchers combined to collect 11 strikeouts as the visitors improved to 2-1 this summer.
 
North Adams, which saw its planned road opener rained out on Saturday, got to open the season in front of its home fans.
 
And those fans saw a strong performance from the North Adams pitching staff, which, despite allowing 14 hits, including five doubles, gave up just three earned runs.
 
“I like the grit,” SteepleCats coach Mike Gladu said of his team’s Game 1 performance. “I thought the pitchers performed pretty well. We had a couple of situations where we definitely should have gotten some runs in and didn’t get that hit.
 
“And there were a couple of plays with a little rust. Certainly, the ball that was hit over [Evan] Meier’s in left field, he just mistracked that one. And the extra run they scored in the eighth, the kid wasn’t going to go [from third on a fly ball], we made a throw and nobody could stop it.
 
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