The Berkshire Eagle from Pittsfield, Massachusetts • 24

24-The Berkshire Eagle, Tuesday, Feb. 27, 1979 Lenox school board orders $50,000 in budget cuts LENOX The School Com- the School Committee recom- mittee told Superintendent Ro- mended elimination of more land M. Miller to come back to than one teaching position, but thenext meeting with at least came under fire from Mrs. $50,000 in cuts from the Blockel who said that he did not f- i $2,629,674 preliminary budget, look at the consequences of the Chairman Thor W. Stemert cuts in terms of how they would told Miller the committee would affect students.

Miller said he had no objection to the School Committee asking for -cuts in high school staffing, but added that the budget process was too far along to permit the cuts to be made effectively. "We ought to decide what our goals are," Miller said. "Are we looking at things in term of our effectiveness and ability to fill educational goals or are we looking at things in terms of a way to save money?" Committee members said he would have to consider ways of saving money in light of Gov. Edward J. King's budget cap proposals.

Perachi's list included inter-grated science, German I and II, advanced typing, calculus and advanced graphics. Mrs. Blockel asked" him, "Have you considered elimination of foreign languages for 7th and 8th graders over elimination of calculus?" Perachi said he had not. x-A -is, j- lis Board to seek funds to plan renovations Stephen Fay night's meeting of the Selectmen. Cleary suggested Selectmen assign their bargaining power.

GESTURE of conciliation by Michael J. Cleary, left, failed to disarm annoyed Great Barrington Selectman Leo J. Fontana, right, at last then try to agree on $40,000 in cuts, but said they may have to come near the $50,000 mark because increased oil prices and last minute additions to the special needs tuition account will increase the preliminary budget by more than $6,000. The cut recommended by the committee amounts to approximately 6 percent of the original preliminary budget. As presented by Miller, that budget is 7.66 percent; over last year's of $2,536,979.

Committeeman Virginia E. Blockel originally suggested a 5 percent cut in the budget, but withdrew the suggestion when Miller said it would be "a problem" to meet such a guideline. Stop purchases Miller said that the School Department would probably stop purchases under the current budget within the next few weeks. He said purchases are normally stopped in April, but only $10,200 in unencumbered funds are left in the budget right now. Prior to deciding how much to cut, the School Committee reviewed the facilities budget and staffing at the high school.

In addition to requests for a new maintenance position and vehicle, Business Manager Michael J. Kinne has suggested installing dehumidifiers at the high school to remove dampness from the first floor, new doors, insulation and security systems at Lenox Elementary School and purchase of several other pieces of maintenance equipment. Kinne said planning of the fi-S arrington Selectmen blast proposal barsta tions to the two buildings. According to the calendar approved last night, public meetings will be held from March 19 to April 6. Superintendent Roland M.

Miller, E. Carolyn White and Allen W. Leslie will put together a slide presentation, pending approval of the full committee, to be used at these meetings. "It means a lot of heavy work during the next two weeks at the same time we are trying to put the budget to bed," Miller said. On April 9, the School Committee will meet jointly with the School Building Needs Com- mittee to decide what options to pursue.

Although the School Committee makes the policy de cisions, the building needs committee surpervises- any construction efforts. LENOX The School Committee approved a town meeting article to seek planning funds for the renovation of school buildings, but will not decide on a dollar amount until meetings have been held with residents and other town boards. At its meeting last night, the committee set an April 9 deadline for a decision on what buildings to close and renovate. Three options are currently under consideration, one of which calls for maintaining the status quo and leaving all five buildings open. The other two call for the closing of Lenox Dale and schools.

One of those options also calls for the closing of Lenox Elementary School and the consolidation of all grades in Morris and Lenox Memorial schools, with addi ining power to new unit they give By Stephen Fay GREAT BARRINGTON An icy reception and heated words followed the presentation last night of a proposal to assign the Selectmen's contract-negotiating power to a new municipal board. Selectmen A. John Tuller and Leo J. LaFontana were emphatically opposed to the idea submitted to the board by Finance Committeeman Michael J. Cleary.

Cleary was acting for the Finance Committee. The Finance Committee was actually acting on behalf of the Salary and Fringe Benefit Survey Committee that studied contracts, working conditions and bargaining policies in town and submitted recommendation more than one year ago calling for the creation of a personnel and compensa- nance Committee member, one nonunion town employee and two registered voters who are not town officers. Cleary attempted to keep the discussion moderate and repeatedly asked Tuller and LaFontana to consider the proposal, talk it over and with -changes that would make it more acceptable. The two Selectmen, however, condemned the proposal and declared their intention to fight its passage at the annual town meeting. In other business Monday night, Tuller instructed the board's clerk to write a letter to Gov.

Edward J. King's appointments officer, George Frattarola, asking that Great Barring-ton physician, Dr. Richard F. Clarke be appointed a temporary, associate medical examiner for South tion board. That board, according to the proposal presented to the Selectmen, would review, negotiate and determine salaries and fringe benefits for the town's union and non-union employees.

Under the existing set up, the Selectmen do all the negotiating. Selectman Tuller said he would fight the proposal, which was submitted for inclusion in the annual town meeting warrant. Tuller was bitterly opposed to the ideal of the negotiating authority being assigned to another board. "What the hell are the Selectmen here for?" he demanded of Cleary in response to the proposal. The proposal calls for creation, by the town moderator, of a five-member committee.

The membership would be as follows: one selectman, one Fi Tuller said his idea was occasioned by the hardships endured recently by South Berkshire families who find themselves waiting for several hours for the arrival of a medical examiner when a family members dies at home. The long wait he said is due to the fact that Dr. Arthur L. Cassel, medical examiner for South County, is on vaca-. tion until May and associate medical examiner Peter R.

Albano has retired. The other members of the board approved Tuller's proposal. Selectman Chairman Charles J. Castronova extended the town's gratitude to the firemen of Housatonic for. their fast and effective response to the flooding of homes and businesses around the ice-clogged Park Street bridge Sunday.

"I think they did a good job," he said. Plan board to draft Foxhollow suggestions LENOX The Planning $10,000 in special maintenance projects at the elementary Boara wm meel lom8nt 31 10 school-was difficult without draft its recommendations to the knowing whether the committee Zoning Board of Appeals on a would decide to keep the build- proposal by the Center at Foxing open in the future, hollow to build 160 resort we wrote the budget, miniums in an area zoned for we were really working on the one-acre lots Donald I. Altshuler, owner of assumption that the building irking ch ange proposed 11 to ease Stockbridge crush the 287-acre Foxhollow property, will go before the appeals board tomorrow night at 8. He was turned down on a request for a variance to build the condominiums and a special permit to run a resort last summer. The two boards agreed to rehear the proposal after Altshuler made substantial changes in the original proposal, mostly in would stay open," Miller told the committee.

"With a question mark, I wouldn't be prepared to spend $5,000 on new doors." However, Kinne said the doors at the school were so in need of repairs "we have to do something for safety purposes. They are not secure." High School Principal Paul E. Perachi presented a list of six By Kevin T. Knobloch STOCKBRIDGE A proposal The most radical of the pro- apparently local people did not posals appeared to be one that want to walk a long distance to would set up an off street lot shop, that would begin at the entrance One proposal would require to the Lavender Door on tourist buses visiting the town to north side of Main Street, extend park in the Plain School lot after purchased the property in 1977 and then attempting to build the condominiums. Altshuler and his attorney, Jeffrey Cook, have argued that a variance should be granted be- -cause the predominance of ledge and swamp on the property prohibits development for single family dwellings on one-acre plots.

Altshuler has agreed to set aside 105 acres of the property in a conservation restriction in order to meet density requirements imposed by the zoning bylaw. The open space would be owned by the Center at Foxhollow and separated from the 55-acre condominium lot. A 17-acre parcel at The Mount also would be separated from the resort pending purchase by Shake-, speare Company. In resubmitting the proposal, Altshuler also changed the design of the condominiums themselves. Most of the units are now unattached and rest on complete foundations.

'Should the Zoning Board of Appeals approve the condominiums, Altshuler would have to obtain permission from the town of Lee to tie into its sewer courses which might be cut if Plans for water supplies. fin. i i past Hall's Car Wash and open dropping off their passengers in me ueveiuper nas now agreea i l' 0.r. If Lf JCLtx. in, immmii wiiminii irnil to supply water once consumption by the complex reaches 20,000 gallons per day.

In addition, Altshuler has agreed to dig test wells before construction of all but model condominiums. Organized opposition to Al-thsuler's plan is expected at tomorrow's hearing. A committee headed by Mr. and Mrs. Richard P.

Celli, Norman G.A. Day, Canaan man fined $625 for false alarm GREAT BARRINGTON A 20-year-old Canaan, man was fined a total of $625 in District Court of Southern Berkshire last Thursday after he was found guilty of turning iaa false io t'biaunsn a residents oniy parking area in front of the library on Main Street was one of 10 presented last night to the Committee to Communicate Common Problems (CCCP) by the chairman of the advisory subcommittee on parking. The proposals are the latest effort by the CCCP to develop some solutions to the town's overtaxed parking facilities during the summer months. They were designed to use existing parking areas without expanding "to the outer perimeters of the business district iwd beyond," according to Terrence R. Flynn, chairman of the parking subcommittee.

Flynn addressed 20 CCCP niembers and 19 observers for nearly two hours in Procter Hall last night. Richard Hardy and William La- fire alarm in Great Barrington hart hast circulated a petition op-nn the rrmminu nf Jan 21 posing the condominiums since up behind the Stockpot restaurant and St. Paul's Episcopal Church. The proposal, first introduced by the Chamber of Commerce a few years ago, would connect the parking lots of the Lavender Door and the Stockpot with one owned and used by the Red Lion Inn. Flynn said the parking lot would be open to the public and have no time restriction placed on parkers Laurel Hill In addition to moving the residential parking area from the Laurel Hill Association property next to the Plain School to the front of the library, Flynn's subcommittee proposed opening the Laurel Hill lot to the public.

The change would require the approval the Laurel Hill trustees, J. Graham Parsons, association president, said. Flynn said the move was proposed because the subcommittee felt the residential lot was under-used last summer. He said Timothy B. Boults of Main Planning Board agreed to al- 'lanning Board agreed to al- tj i- Altshuler to resubmit the Itealty Iirm low Street, Canaan, had pleaded proposal.

Day said, last week sues school Kevin T. Knobloch PARKING SUBCOMMITTEE Chairman Terrence R. Flynn introduces subcommittee's 10 proposed changes in parking facilities last night in Stockbridge. Film makers agree to meet with board stead of being allowed to park along the streets in the business district. "We anticipate a great many tourist buses coming to town this summer because of Norman Rockwell's death," Flynn said.

The subcommittee wants to modify all angle parking in the business district so that a car can "enter a parking place with greater ease." Increasing the angle of each parking space would mean the loss of one space each block, said Flynn. Parallel parking in front of the Corner House and on the southern half of Elm Street near Maple Street should also be changed to angle parking, the subcommittee recommended. Another proposal called for parking along West Main Street to be restricted to the north side from the corner of Pine and Main streets to the corner of Sergeant and Main streets. Tow cars Although the move would result in the loss of a number of parking spaces, Flynn said, the subcommittee considers West Main "one of the most beautiful residential streets in the nation" and its residential nature should be preserved. To implement the proposals, the subcommittee decided that the no-parking and residents only restrictions should be enforced by towing the cars of guilty to the charge brought by local police in the wake of an investigation of the 4 a.m.

false alarm incident. Police Chief Emmett J. Shea asked Judge Robert J. Donelan to impose the fine the maximum for this offense on the grounds that Boults had initiated a potentially dangerous situation for local firemen by pulling the alarm at so early an hour when the roads were slick and cov- arnH until onmir more than 130 names had been collected. In addition to the petition, the committee has sent out letters drafted by Day offering reasons why the condominiums should not be allowed in Lenox.

Day said in his letter that the last time Foxhollow came before the appeals board, "some members thought these condominiums would be a desirable thing for the town" and urged Leslie. Rathbun resigns from school board STOCKBRIDGE Leslie G. Rathbun, one of the town's three representatives to the Berkshire Hills Regional School last night submitted his for commission LENOX Wheeler Taylor, the real estate firm that handled the sale of Foxhollow School to Donald I. Altshuler, has filed suit against the trustees of the school to recover a $24,000 commission for the sale. According to the suit, filed Feb.

21 in Superior Court by David O. Burbank of Pittsfield, the school owed Wheeler Taylor $32,000, but only paid $8,000. The suit asks for an attachment of mortgage payments. The trustees of the Foxhollow School hold a $500,000 first mortgage on the 287-acre property purchased by Altshuler early in 1977. The total purchase price for the property was $650,000.

Joel S. Greenberg, attorney for the trustees, said the amount fined Boults opponents to attend the hearing. Judge Donelan surfine. The He also sa'd that granting of $500 plus a $125 resignation to the Selectmen. Rathbun said in his letter that his schedule and duties had been Ash ednesday changed by his employer in Jan- service set for surfine is added to fines imnosed the variance for the condomi- STOCKBRIDGE' The producers' of a television movie based on the characters in many of Norman Rockwell's paintings have notified the Selectmen that the project is "still in the development stage" and that they will meet with the board when the plans to shoot the movie on location in Stockbridge are complete.

Last night the Selectmen released a letter from Richard Barclay, a producer associated with Concepts Unlimited Inc. of New York City, that was a re Thomas asked the board to "keep us informed of your progress and actions" regarding the film company's plans. Thomas had rebuked the Selectmen in a letter dated Jan. 26 for opposing Concepts Unlimited's plan to film the movie, "A Christmas Story," here. A Concepts Unlimited film crew shot exterior scenes of Main Street and other parts of town on Jan.

6 and 7 in preparation for completing the project here in March. Duebel said last week that the project has encountered some obstacles with the television in- in cases where a guilty finding niums described in the letter as carries with it the potential for a "multi-family dwellings," would ana mat ne no longer was nary prison sentence. able to attend meetings. "nullify the intent and purpose of the bylaw by establishing a precedent for condominium use on any open parcel of land in any district in town." Breaks faith Ash Wednesday mass tomorrow GREAT BARRINGTON sponse to the Selectmen's letter to Barclay and producer Robert violators. The towing fee would be "very high, well above the Ash Wednesday masses and im- The letter accuses Altshuler of of the fee had been under nego- actual fee of the tow-truck Duebel askin8 tnem to Present ut that he is still hoping position of ashes at St.

Peter's "breaking faith" with the town tiation for some time. He slid Stockbridge church STOCKBRIDGE The Ash Wednesday liturgy at St. Joseph's Church will be celebrated by the Rev. Joseph Fennell, a former missionary in Baghdad, Iraq, tomorrow at 7:15 p.m. Father Fennell, who is now stationed at Cra'nwell in Lenox, will be the guest celebrant at St.

Joseph's Church throughout the Lenten season. Ashes will be distributed tomorrow at 3:15 and 7:15. On Wednesdays during Lent mass will be at 7:15 p.m., while on the remaining weekdays mass will be at 4. uieir uians io reiuni neie ure iiC uiiuiui umiuuuw wm oe ai for rst ask ne for a sner a rwr- another attorney wnnM nrnhahlv The sole candidate for the three year opening on the School Committee at last May's annual' election, Rathbun said in his letter that he had intended to serve out his term when he was elected. The Selectmen said they would not appoint anyone to fill ou! Rathbun's term of office be-c.

tiie the annual town elections will be held May 21 less than three months from now. Stockbridge continues to be represented on the board by Dr. Raymond R. Brinker and John F. Thomas.

March. iaie raarcn or eariy April. and 9 a.m., noon and 5:30 p.m. mit to run the resort when he represent the school in the suit. 1 Family Night Special owner as a sound method of paying for the cost of enforcement," Flynn said.

Selectmen Chairman John A. Beacco Jr. said a space behind the Town Hall will be set aside to store cars that have been towed until their owners retrieve them. Last week, the Selectmen received a letter from Chamber of Commerce President Lowell Thomas that commended board for its "willingness to seriously consider the proposal of Concepts Unlimited to complete its filming in Stockbridge." tl New Cruise and Spring Fashion that go Anywhere Jfj 5 i Every Thursday 6-9 PM $00 Call for the menu of the day 232-7770 SPR1ISGISOISTHEWAY! FIRE ISLANDER SPORTSWEAR out how sweet it HAS is to be a Lifesaver Barrington Savings. Great.

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