WORTHINGTON — A Special Town Meeting article to purchase a new police vehicle may have failed, but Police Chief Robert Reinke is nevertheless moving forward with plans to purchase a second cruiser.
“I just have to buy something used,” Reinke said. “We have the insurance money.”
The article was one of four on the warrant for the Oct. 30 Town Meeting. It would have authorized the transfer of $48,686 from the general stabilization account to purchase a 2022 Chevy Tahoe police vehicle. However, voters shot down the spending request amid bad weather.
“There were people standing in the pouring rain to vote no,” Reinke said.
The article did get a majority but failed to get the two-thirds majority needed to pass, according to Select Board member Charley Rose. The police vehicle that the article would have funded would have replaced a vehicle that was wrecked earlier this summer when an officer responding to a call crashed in foggy conditions.
The other three articles on the warrant, including one to fund a repair of the roof of the R.H. Conwell Elementary School, passed.
“There was actually a strong turnout for a Special Town Meeting,” said Rose, who noted that more than 70 people voted.
The meeting took place in a tent outside and those who entered had to wear masks. Rose said a number of people participated in the meeting unmasked while standing outside the tent.
Reinke said the insurance settlement from the wrecked vehicle will allow him to buy a used cruiser. He said he has had to respond to calls in his personal pickup sometimes, as the department’s only other cruiser is not always available. This presents an issue as the pickup doesn’t have all his equipment in it, he said, also noting that the town receives revenues when its police vehicles are used in details.
Firefighters in the Hilltowns have gathered a second shipment of gear to deliver to firefighters in Lebanon, which organizers hope will be sent overseas later this year.
The effort was started by River de la Vida Williams, a member of the Cummington and Goshen fire departments, and sent needed firefighting gear from Goshen, Chesterfield, Williamsburg and Cummington in 2020. The Middle Eastern country’s capital of Beirut was rocked by a deadly explosion in 2020, and its firefighters remain in need of equipment.
For the second shipment, Williams took donated gear from Plainfield and Hatfield and got it to Robert Rahal in New York, who has approximately 400 to 425 sets of personal gear ready to go.
“We’re waiting on just the logistics of shipment,” Williams said.
Rahal, who was born in Lebanon and lives Albany, New York, goes to Lebanon every year. His brother-in-law is a firefighter in Lebanon, which is how he came to learn about the country’s need for equipment. He said he has been getting donations from around New York, and he connected with Williams after overhearing a conversation at a dentist’s office.
“It was a beautiful accident,” he said.
Lebanese firefighter Charbel Salameh’s station was the beneficiary of the original shipment, and he expressed excitement at the prospect of getting more equipment for his country’s firefighters.
“It’s amazing,” he said “I’m overwhelmed.”
Salameh said any excess equipment his station receives will be given to other stations. He said he wants to personally thank firefighters in the hilltowns when he visits the U.S. in 2022.
Those interested in donating to Lebanese volunteer firefighters can do so at gofundme.com/f/lebanese-volunteer-firefighters-support-fund.
A Knox Box helped the Goshen Fire Department render aid to a senior citizen who had fallen in a bathroom and been lying there for a day.
According to a post on the Fire Department’s Facebook page, the department was dispatched on Oct. 30 after a meal delivery person noticed that the previous day’s newspaper and meal hadn’t been taken inside, and the homeowner was not able to be reached by phone. The department was able to access the house without breaking any locks because the house had a Knox Box installed. A Knox Box contains the key to the structure it is attached to and the Fire Department has a key that can open the box.
Once inside the residence, Fire Department personnel were able to locate the homeowner and Highland Ambulance transported the person to Cooley Dickinson Hospital.
Those interested in getting a Knox Box installed for a town senior free of charge can contact the Goshen Fire Department at 413-268-7161 and leave a message.
Former Fire Chief Susan Labrie secured the original grant funding for Knox Boxes for seniors.
“Only the Fire Department has the key to access,” she said. “What it provides is quick access.”
Additionally, she said police often need to be present before the Fire Department is allowed to physically break in — which is not the case when a key is available through a Knox Box.
Staff Writer Bera Dunau can be reached at bdunau@gazettenet.com.