No Contested Town Races Shaping Up in Williamstown

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — With two weeks left to gather signatures on nomination papers, there are no contested elections shaping up for the May 12 town election.
 
And there is one post for which no one has expressed an interest in serving.
 
Two current members of the Select Board have pulled nomination papers to run for seats on the body, the town clerk reported on Tuesday morning.
 
Stephanie Boyd, who is concluding her first three-year term on the five-person body, has taken out nomination papers.
 
Shana Dixon, who was elected last May to fill the final year of an unexpired term, is running for a full three-year term.
 
The board currently has four members after it chose not to appoint a replacement for Jeffrey Johnson last year. The final year of his unexpired term will be determined by voters this spring. So far, the only resident to pull papers for that post is Nate Budington, who serves on the Historical Commission and is that body's representative on the Community Preservation Committee.
 
None of the three potential candidates for the Select Board have returned papers with the required 30 signatures to get a spot on the May ballot.
 
One resident, Michael Sussman, has returned papers with signatures for one of three two open seats on Milne Public Library Board of Trustees. Martin Mitsoff also has taken out papers.
 
Finally, the incumbent up for re-election on the Planning Board, Roger Lawrence, has taken out papers but has not returned them as of Tuesday morning.
 
As of early this week, no one had pulled papers for an open spot on the town's Housing Authority.
 
Nomination papers are available from the town clerk's office at Town Hall. Papers with the required 30 signatures of town residents are due on Tuesday, March 24, at 5 p.m.
 
The deadline to register to vote in the town election is May 1 at 5 p.m.

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Cross-Commonwealth Walk Highlights Fight to Change State Flag

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — A small but growing group of activists from around New England on Friday began a planned three-week trek across the commonwealth to deliver a message to Gov. Maura Healey.
 
David Detmold, 69, of Montague, is the leader of an effort to raise awareness about the Massachusetts Indigenous legislative agenda.
 
On Friday afternoon, he took a break after hiking from the New York State line to talk about that agenda in the shadow of the Williamstown Meetinghouse, home of the First Congregational Church.
 
Detmold said the group's objectives boil down to three main points: listen to Native nations, defend sacred homelands, honor all people.
 
On the first goal, a major point of emphasis is a decades-long campaign to change the Massachusetts state flag.
 
As the group makes its way east toward the State House in Boston, it is handing out literature explaining some of its causes, including one that breaks down the objectionable elements of the commonwealth's seal, which adorns the flag.
 
One element that jumps out: the image of what appears to be a colonialist wielding a sword above the image of a Native American.
 
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