Busy Night for Williamstown Police Includes Life-Saving Moment

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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Police Department on Wednesday evening had its hands full with several incidents, including one that allowed officers to help save a life.
 
Between 5 and 9 p.m., WPD officers responded to a three-car motor vehicle accident, calls involving domestic violence and one emergency on Williams College campus where the local police were the first on the scene, Chief Michael Ziemba said on Thursday.
 
The evening included deployment of the department's K9 Unit for tracking and one arrest.
 
"While the number and types of calls are fairly typical, or what some would call 'routine' for our police department, being able to say that we were part of a small team of people who helped to bring back a young life is not something that happens to us every day."
 
The life-threatening incident occurred during a Williams College athletic event, Ziemba said. An athlete from the visiting team had trouble breathing and chest pains.
 
WPD officers administered oxygen and began life-saving CPR until an EMS personnel arrived, he said.
 
An automatic external defibrillator was used three times on the student.
 
"Thankfully, the student was conscious and responsive upon arrival at the hospital and reportedly doing well today," Ziemba wrote in a Thursday afternoon release. "It's a great feeling to be able to share good news."
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Williams College Lone Suitor for Development of Water Street Lot

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff

Williams College hopes to replace the current Facilities Services building on Latham Street and use that space for a new  athletics complex. 
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — If the town accepts an offer from Williams College, a 1.27-acre lot that long has been eyed as a possible venue for housing and economic development instead will find a use similar to its history.
 
The college was the lone respondent to the town's request for proposals to purchase and develop 59 Water St., a dirt lot known around town as the "old town garage site." This was first reported Wednesday by Greylock News. 
 
If successful, the college plans to use the former town garage property for the school's Facilities Services building. Or it could be turned back into a parking lot.
 
Williams' offer includes a $500,000 upfront payment and a 10-year agreement to make $50,000 annual donations to the Mount Greylock Regional School District according to the proposal unsealed on Wednesday afternoon.
 
If it closes the deal, the college said it will explore development of a three- to four-story Facilities Services building with "a structured parking facility providing approximately 170 spaces."
 
"[I]f site constraints impact our ability to develop both structured parking and the Facilities Services building, our backup proposal is to develop the parking structure with approximately 170 spaces, also with capacity to support institutional and public needs," the college's proposal reads.
 
The college's current Facilities property at 60 Latham St. has an assessed value — for the .42-acre lot only — of $113,000 and an annual property tax bill of $1,606, according to the town's website.
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